Mannion and Spissu exalt Italy: in Livorno Ukraine is knocked out

Gianmarco Pozzecco’s 12 sons play with attention, desire and that energy that their father dispenses from the bench. Nico Mannion treats himself to a historic evening by beating his own record for points in the blue: 28, 4 more than those scored in Belgrade in the pre-Olympic victory that sent Meo Sacchetti’s Italy to the Tokyo Games in 2021. This time the stakes it’s not that high. For Italy this would be a friendly given that qualification for the World Cup in August has already been secured since November. Not for Ukraine which is out of the game with the defeat. The 23 assists and 40 rebounds against a bigger team are numbers that give confidence to a young and inexperienced team. “For us it wasn’t a friendly match – says Pozzecco – and my players on the pitch demonstrated it by playing a tough, solid game. I’m proud of them, they repaid Livorno’s affection in the best possible way. The only discordant note of such a beautiful evening is the injury sustained by Paul Biligha: he is our captain, I really hope it is nothing serious ”.

Emotions

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One year after the invasion of Russia, the emotional level of the evening, already high in the exhausted and hot Livorno sports hall, rises before the match when the teams embrace on the pitch, all together, with the federal presidents Gianni Petrucci and Sasha Volkov , Olympic gold medalist with the USSR in 1988, the first ex-Soviet player in the NBA and also moved from Reggio Calabria in 1992-03. Then the Ukrainian players listen to the national anthem wrapped in the yellow and blue flag. The new father Gianmarco Pozzecco has teary eyes during the anthem of Mameli. Here he played 21-year-old with Sugar Richardson’s Baker, coached by Dado Lombardi from Livorno, an unforgettable man whom the coach loved very much, reciprocated.

Nico show

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On the pitch, as often happens when wearing the blue, Mannion unleashes the attack after a tiring start for both teams. The 21-year-old Virtus point guard scores 16 points, without errors, out of the team’s 23 points in the first quarter with assists (a splendid pretending to pass the ball behind his back) and steals. It is he who signs the 11-0 which brings Italy up by 10. Partial to which Ukraine responded with a 9-0 which rebalances a lively and pleasant match. Captain Biligha goes out at the end of the first quarter with a sprained knee. Riccardo Visconti made his debut with 7 points in less than three minutes in his first match with the senior national team: if it’s not a record, he’s close. On the other hand, Issuf Sanon, born in Donetsk to a family from Burkina Faso, leads his national team beating the blue guards in speed. Sanon had already damned the blue defense last August in the World Cup qualifiers and in the defeat in Milan at the European Championship in September. Another 10-2 run brings the Azzurri up by 8 in the third quarter to which the Ukrainians react with a 9-0 lead. Poz also tries with a low and more agile quintet, with Ricci and Severini under the basket. The high percentages of the first half are lowered but not the energy especially in defense. And after having struggled in attack up to that moment, Marco Spissu broke free at the end of the third quarter and with 12 points in 5 minutes puts Italy back ahead for the decisive draw which also reaches +16. Today the blue group leaves for Caceres, in Extremadura, where on Sunday they will face Sergio Scariolo’s Spain who are in Bologna today for the Virtus match against Vitoria.