Basketball Serie A: Milan falls to Udine, Reggio knocks out Brescia. Cremona and Trento for the playoffs

After defeating league leaders Virtus Bologna, Reggio Emilia also knocked out second-placed Germani Brescia, conquering PalaLeonessa with authority and a great team performance. Thus the boys trained by coach Priftis steal the show from the top four in the standings, all without points, including Milan, defeated in Udine (Christon 25), protagonist of a super comeback. The race for the playoffs in Cremona and Trento revives: Brotto’s team gets closer to the group of the top eight in the standings, led by Durham (34 points) while Cancellieri’s men dominate Reyer at Taliercio from the first to the last minute and grab eighth position. At the PalaSerradimigni, Treviso’s last-gasp comeback against Dinamo completely reopens the fight for survival even if Cantù maintains the two-point lead over the Venetians with an important home victory over Trieste (Green 20, season record).

VENICE-TRENTO 87-106

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The Aquila confirms itself as a bête noire in the Lagoon. After the victory 18 days ago in the Eurocup round of 16, Cancellieri’s team defeated Reyer in the championship too: the last five direct clashes were all resolved in favor of Trento, which regained eighth position. The guests escape early, with a 29-18 first quarter driven by stratospheric percentages (15/12 from the field, 5/6 from 3). Venezia, disastrous tonight from beyond the arc (5/28 from 3), seemed to throw in the towel already in the third quarter, when they fell behind by 22 points (55-77 at 28′). In addition to Jogela’s 22 points, L’Aquila scores four other players in double figures – Jones, Steward, Bayehe, Battle – which confirms Trento’s sensational team performance, useful for relaunching after the four defeats in a row suffered in Serie A.

Venice: Cole 22, Wiltjer 15, Parks 14
Trento: Jogela 22, Jones 19, Steward 17

CREMONA-NAPOLI 88-81

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After four consecutive defeats, Vanoli is back to breathing with a great feat: once Guerri has come back in a sprint, Cremona maintains their unbeaten home record against Napoli and relaunches themselves in the race for the playoffs, which seemed to be fading away in the last month. Trailing by double figures (56-67) in the final stages of the third quarter, Brotto’s team completely turned the game around with a 27-13 run in the final period, in which they largely outperformed the guests in the rebounding battle and forced them to a meager 4/12 from the field. But beyond the defensive merits there is a stratospheric Durham, which in the last 10′ scores 12 of its 34 total points and breaks the legs of Guerri, who is not enough with the 38 points of the Bolton-Totè duo.

Cremona: Durham 34, Udom and Ndiaye 10
Napoli: Bolton 20, Totè 18, El-Amin 17

SASSARI-TREVISO 103-108

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The battle for survival unexpectedly reopens: a surreal ending nails Banco di Sardegna, who before tonight had never lost at home against Nutribullet. Ahead for large stretches of the match thanks to an extraordinary second quarter of 37 points and at +9 (90-81) 6′ from the last siren, Sassari was overtaken by the astuteness of Cappelletti and the energy of Croswell, who nibbled away points from the foul line until reaching parity (101-101) at the last turn of the clock. After that, everything happens: Nutribullet overtakes due to Visconti’s self-rebounding basket, in the following action Weber steals possession from Dinamo and launches Croswell at the rim. Sassari squanders all the opportunities to get closer, so Macura takes care of it from the arc to seal the turnaround once and for all.

Sassari: Marshall 21, Beliauskas 17, Macon and McGlynn 14
Treviso: Croswell 24, Macura 23, Cappelletti 17

Udine-Milan 86-83

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Milan squandered an 8-point lead and with a 17-6 run in the last 5′ Udine came back and won a great match led by Christon, who scored 9 of the last 11 points for the Friulians, who were good at not making any mistakes in the final minutes, the opposite of what happened in the first leg at the Allianz Cloud Arena, where Brooks won it from the arc at the last second. This time his triple for the equalizer, at the siren, goes out on the rim and Mannion’s best performance of the season in attack is of no use: so Milan loses their seventh match in the championship and gives up third place in the standings to Venice, equal on points but with a game less. Coach Poeta’s men are weighed down by the wear and tear of the fifth match played in the last 11 days between the Lba and the Euroleague: Udine, now two points away from eighth place, had not taken the field since March 14th. Balanced match for all 40 minutes, Ea7 shot poorly in the 1st half (9/29) but stayed afloat thanks to free throws (21/21 at halftime). He tries to escape three times on +8 but the Old Wild West is alive. And if Brooks scores his first field goal after 22′, Bendzius scores all 12 of his points in the second half. Bolmaro scores the layup to make it 77-69 with 5′ left for Milan and it seems like the end. And instead Udine rises again, takes control of the rebounds (45-40 the final count, Spencer 10) and with the partial 16-3 finds the overtaking with Christon, reaching up to +5 33” from the siren. Mannion scores from 3 to -2, but it’s not enough. Olimpia also pays for the poor streak from the arc (5/22) and Leday’s bad day (in double figures in 9 of the last 10 championship games, today just 3 points). Udine’s last home victory against Milan dates back 50 years ago, it was the 1975-76 season.

Udine: Christon 25, Alibegovic 16, Bendzius 12
Milan: Mannion 19, Nebo 16, Brooks 11.

Cantù – Trieste 97-76

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Cantù maintains a two-point lead over Treviso in the fight for survival, overwhelming Trieste at the PalaDesio thanks to their second offensive performance of the season: after the 108 scored against Trento, here are another 97 scored by the Julian team, never really in the match. For Acqua San Bernardo, a lot of substance from Ballo, with the fifth double double of the championship (18+12) and a seasonal record in attack for Green, while the debut in the Cantù jersey of the 37-year-old Gerald Robinson is positive: 4 points and 5 assists in 17′ for the former Rimini player who also spent time in Scafati, Roma and Pesaro. Speaking of assists, De Nicolao’s 11 are the highest in his career, Bortolani and Fevrier with two perfect (4/4 for both). In Trieste the 22 points of the Australian Bannan were not enough, in his second game in Lba with 7 rebounds and 30 rating. Cantù starts very strong, 11-2 at the start after 3′ and 31-20 at the end of the first quarter. Trieste returns to -5 (39-35) 5′ from the break but the only reaction from the Giulians remains: Acqua San Bernardo extends again with a 15-8 partial and goes to the break at 54-42. Ramsey and his teammates seem to have remained in the locker room in the second half, they didn’t score from play for 6′ while the hosts flew to +20 (62-42) and ended the third quarter at 76-60. In the last 10′ the entry onto the pitch of the 18 year olds Gualdi and Molteni is the only thing worthy of note for Cantù.

Cantù: Green 20, Ballo 18, Sneed and Fevrier 13.
Trieste: Bannan 22, Ramsey 11, Candussi and Toscano-Anderson 10.

Brescia-Reggio Emilia 92-101

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Sixth consecutive victory for Reggio Emilia which becomes a team that kills greats: seven days ago they knocked out league leaders Virtus Bologna. Tonight it is Brescia that has to surrender in its own stadium for the second time in the championship, thus failing to reach the black Vs at the top of the table. Once again it is the strength of the group that makes the difference for Unahotels, who grab Trieste in sixth place in the standings: there are six players in double figures, Caupain is the best with 22 rating, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Accuracy from the arc was also decisive (13/25 for Reggio) while in Brescia Miro Bilan’s best offensive performance of the season (11/16 shooting) was not enough. Coach Priftis’ men take control of the match in the second half after a balanced first half (50-51). With Germani ahead 57-53 after 4′ of the third quarter, Reggio explodes in an 11-2 run: from this moment on, Brescia will no longer be able to regain the lead in front of their fans. The Emilians reach +7, Brescia comes back and so the last quarter seems to inevitably have to be played point by point. Wrong. At 81-82 with 6’18 to go, Reggio bursts into flames with a decisive 12-0 break (6 points from Barford). Reggio’s +13 is repeated 90” from the siren (99-86) from which Della Valle (5/8 from the arc with 9 assists) and his teammates are no longer able to recover.

Brescia: Bilan 30, Della Valle 21, Burnell 13.
Reggio Emilia: Barford 17, Thor, Rossato and Caupain 13.