In the advance matches of the 28th day, Lba Udine wins without too much effort (95-83). In the other match a super Doyle dominates, finishing with 26 points
In the previews of the 28th matchday Lba Udine beats Cantù without too much effort (Christon 20) and keeps the door of the playoffs open while for the Brianza (Ball 16) without Bortolani salvation is still to be achieved. In Naples, the 29-8 score in the third quarter was almost unreal with which Doyle (26) and his teammates overturned Trento, effectively, and somewhat surprisingly, excluding them from the race for the post season.
Udine-Cantù 95-83
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The 11-0 between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second was decisive: a partial that gave Udine the momentary maximum advantage (50-38), which then spread in the last quarter thus finding the second victory in the last seven, enough to gather the confidence needed to fight for the last playoff place with two days to go. Cantù takes more rebounds against the best team in the championship (37-33) and is led by Moraschini, who also gets 7 rebounds (equaled a season record) and 4 triples, but has to give up, thanks to the 15 turnovers and a bad shooting day (0/9 from the arc) for the pair formed by Sneed, nervous and out with five fouls already in the first minutes of the last quarter, and Fevrier (3/14 from three in the last three games). Salvation postponed for the Brianza without Bortolani, unavailable, with a four-point advantage over Treviso and Sassari but with only one match to play given the rest of the last season of the championship. Of note is the great game of Hickey, former player: 11 points, 4 rebounds, 5 steals and 7 assists. One wonders what season would have gone for Udine if they had had him available for the whole season alongside Christon (7 assists and 25 rating). For Cantù Okeke’s 9 are a seasonal record equaled.
Udine: Christon 20, Dawkins 17, Mekowulu 14.
Cantu: Ballo 16, Chiozza and Green 13
Napoli-Trento 84-74
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Thirty points in the first 20′. Twenty-nine points in the next 10′. Thus Naples overturns a match that started badly, 30-37 at halftime and the worst offensive first half of the season, keeping alive their hopes for the last playoff place by catching Trento at 20 in the standings but surpassing them in head-to-head matches and only two points less than Varese who has to rest on the penultimate day. Milton Doyle, MVP of the match, was decisive, his 26 on the scoresheet were a seasonal record in Italy in what was only his fifth match with Guerri. The Chicago-born guard scored in the incredible 24-0 break in the third quarter (29-8 run) scoring 17 points against Trento who instead failed to score from play for a good eight minutes. Thus the Neapolitans took a 59-45 lead with 10′ to go, enough to keep their opponents at a distance and sign their second victory in three games with Jasmin Repesa on the bench. Of note are Totè’s four blocks, a record equaled in Serie A. For Energia Dolomiti, who had started the match well (they were ahead 17-10 in the first quarter) it was the third defeat in a row, the seventh in the last eight. Qualifying for the playoffs, which didn’t seem in question until March, has become more complicated than ever.
Naples: Doyle 26, El-Amin 16 and Totè 16.
Trent: Steward 17, Bayehe 16, Jakimovski 11.
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