An acceleration in the second quarter and Boniciolli’s team directs the game. With the usual Giuri and Cappelletti the Old Wild West starts the championship well
UDINE. A good first for the Apu Old Wild West, who conquered PalaBanca with a proof of authority and forgets the bitterness of the Super Cup. The technical gap between the two teams was too wide, after a “diesel” start Udine dominated the game and the Cappelletti-Giuri couple made good and bad weather.
SOFT APPROACH
Boniciolli opens the match with the quintet made up of Cappelletti, Lautier, Italian, Antonutti and Walters, Salieri responds with Sabatini, Devoe, Cesana, Pascolo and Guariglia. The Udinese “Dada” Pascolo does not suffer from the emotion and contributes to the initial 5-0 with an assist and basket from below, the Apu has a too soft approach, but Cappelletti takes care of it with two triples for the 8-0 counter-break . Assigeco plays at a high pace and with an excellent ball turn finds several open shots, Udine misses too much from below, but makes up for it thanks to attacking rebounds and second shots. The first quarter ends with the APU ahead thanks to the umpteenth initiative by Cappelletti.
DOUBLE FLAME
Other music in the second period. Giuri da tre is “on fire” and opens the 10-0 which brings the APU to +12 in the space of 2 ‘. Pellegrino has a good impact on the game, even Nobile enters well on the parquet.
To restore oxygen to the hosts, a blackout from Udine is needed: two naive fouls in attack by Pellegrino and Lautier, a couple of rebounded sleeps and Assigeco returns to 26-28 with a Devoe bomb.
The usual Cappelletti hangs up and the guys from the West have a second blaze that incinerates Piacenza: a burst of triples with Cappelletti, Antonutti and Giuri, an 8/8 long-distance trio in the first 20 ‘. We go to rest with Udine at +16 (29-45) and the game in quiet control.
THE TWO TOWERS
After the break, Assigeco tries to throw his heart over the obstacle, Pascolo and Cesana sign a 5-0 run and punish another soft approach from APU. Walters takes care of ringing the alarm with a 5-point match from below. Piacenza does not give up, he raises the defensive intensity and Udine has to roll up his sleeves to keep the advantage in double figures. At the end of the third quarter comes another significant extension, again thanks to a long one: this time it is Pellegrino who shows his muscles, first scores from the line, then harpoons an offensive rebound and unloads for Italian who achieves the +15 from three (44-59 ).
STROKE OF GRACE
The most is done, the only thing missing is the final shot of the kappa to send the Piacentini to the ground. That arrives punctually at the beginning of the fourth period, with Lautier’s basket and a triple from an inspired Nobile: at 32 ‘on +20 (47-67) you can start engaging the autopilot. In the remaining 8 ‘of play, the APU finds a way to make Boniciolli angry: general relaxation, a couple of flare-ups Assigeco and the timeout from the Udinese bench arrives at 56-71. In reality, the two points are already on ice, Udine risks practically nothing and indeed plays cat and mouse. The ending is the classic garbage time, with little pathos and many rotations.