With a decisive LeDay (22 points), Olimpia returns to victory in the championship after almost a month. Reyer stops Cantù’s comeback, an important victory for Udine against Napoli. Trapani’s success in Treviso after the farewells of Repesa and Alibegovic
On the 10th day of Serie A a revamped Olimpia defends the Forum from Trento’s assault: LeDay’s triple – best on the pitch with 22 points – seals the victory of EA7 94-90. Venezia certifies, albeit with several worries at the end, its excellent form: the 101-95 over Cantù is worth the sixth consecutive victory in the championship. Six out of six also for Trapani, who continues to grind out points, despite the difficulties away from the pitch: on his debut on the bench, Alex Latini worthily replaces Repesa, Shark beats Treviso 89-82. Udine had a huge success, the second in a row: Vertemati’s team beat Napoli 78-71 thanks to the super debut of newcomer Christon.
MILAN-TRENTO 94-90
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Despite numerous absences, Milan put the defeat of Vitoria in the Euroleague behind them, overcame Trento and returned to victory in the Lba, which had been missing for almost a month. Olimpia prevailed for a large part of the first half thanks to Brooks’ triples and an almost impeccable LeDay, but conceded defensive holes to L’Aquila at the end of the second period: Steward’s prayer launched from his own half of the field kept Trento in touch at the interval (52-48). After the break, the guests completed the 12-0 run with Jones which gave Trento the lead for the first time (52-54), while EA7, who had concluded the first half of the match with 60% from 2, seemed to have lost confidence with the basket inside the Juventus area, but the all-out pressure orchestrated by Poeta limited the damage. The match proceeds point by point, so much so that it reaches the last minute of the match in a draw (88-88): LeDay and Booker decide, the first with a triple from the tip and the second with a placed shot from the corner, which punish the missed defensive changes of the Eagle and give Poeta his first victory at home.
Milan: LeDay 22, Brooks 17, Nebo 15
Trento: Steward, Jones and Battle 16
VENICE-CANTÙ 101-95
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Venice doesn’t want to stop: Reyer, with many shivers at the end after a dominated match, also beats Cantù and achieves her sixth victory in a row, which is worth the momentary hold on second place in the rankings. Great disappointment however for Acqua San Bernardo, who came close to a sensational comeback after reaching -21 in the 3rd period. Venezia opens the match with a crazy pace: 6/8 from 3 in the 1st quarter, with RJ Cole very hot, Horton and Parks with impact in the two halves of the court. Cantù reacts with Sneed and Bortolani, but always remains around the double-digit deficit (36-26 at 10′), until -17 (50-33 at 17′). Then, in the second half, Spahija’s team seemed to close the score: at the end of the 3rd quarter, plays in the area by Nikolic and Tessitori gave it 82-61 in the 30th minute. Reyer, however, relaxed too soon: turnovers and errors arrived, Cantù picked up the pace and reopened everything with a partial score of 2-14. Basile in the area, Sneed and Bortolani from outside bring the Lombards closer to a sensational comeback: the Italian guard himself, at 96-93 with 1′ to go, misses the triple of the potential equaliser. This error, combined with the sensational layup missed by Moraschini, allows Cole to close the game on the line.
Venice: Cole 19, Horton 12, Parks 12
Cantù: Sneed 24, Bortolani 21, Basile 18
TREVISO-TRAPANI 82-89
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Shark resists, despite the further penalty point and the heavy farewells of coach Repesa and former captain Alibegovic: Nutribullet is unable to capitalize on the Sicilians’ moment of difficulty off the pitch and remains stuck at the bottom of the table. After a complicated start to the match, Trapani broke free at the end of the first half with a run of 12-0 (36-44) driven by Ford’s penetrations, which allowed Shark to end the first half of the match ahead 39-47. In the second half Trapani comfortably managed the advantage thanks to the physicality of Eboua, who also hit a shot from long range. But 1′ from the final siren Weber and Olisevicius ignite Nutribullet’s comeback attempt, bringing Treviso -4 (79-83). In the following possession, the hosts contained Notae well, but left space for Hurt to rebound, who converted the decisive tap-in: Allen and Notae then closed it from the line.
Treviso: Olisevicius 20, Weber 19, Pinkins 17
Trapani: Ford 19, Eboua 14, Notae and Rossato 11
UDINE-NAPLES 78-71
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After four defeats out of four, Udine achieved their first victory of the season at the Palacarnera, the second in a row in the league: the success against Napoli allows the Bianconeri to exit the hot zone thanks to the signing of the latest arrival, Semaj Christon who left Italy a few months ago for Israel. Vertemati’s team started strong with triples from Benduzius and Alibegovic, reaching +10 after 6′ (21-11), and maintaining it (33-23 at 13′) until Napoli’s reaction, which increased the physicality in defense and limited Udine to 3/16 in the 2nd quarter. Caruso, Flagg and Simms launch the visitors’ comeback, which materializes at the beginning of the second half (41-42 at 21′) with a three-point play by Caruso. The decisive partial, however, came at the end of the third: an 11-0 scored by the dynamism of Calzavara, which was worth +8 (65-57) in the 30th minute. Napoli, however, came back again and equalized with Flagg (69-69 with 2′ to go): Magro’s team, however, did not take into account Christon, who was uncatchable in penetration. The American scores 13 points in the 4th and the free throws that close the game, after two fundamental offensive rebounds by Mekowulu in the last minute.
Udine: Christon 27, Bendzius 18, Alibegovic 11
Naples: Flagg 18, Mitrou-Long 13, Caruso 11
on the pitch tomorrow
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Cremona-Varese (5.30pm), Virtus-Tortona (6.30pm)
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