Apu to the last breath: comeback and beat Chiusi with super Cappelletti and two free shots by Walters

The play keeps Udine afloat almost always below in the score. At 3 ” from the end, the American pivot overtakes the line

UDINE. On the wire, scraping the barrel of all possible energy, the Apu wins two races against a great Chiusi and takes a fundamental step towards the final.

A very tight challenge with the guests who agree with Boniciolli who on the eve had declared: «They will do everything to beat us». That’s right. The coach from Udine proposes the same quintet in race one with Cappelletti, Lacey, Ebeling, Antonutti and Walters.

The start is all from Friuli with a dunk on the counterattack by Ebeling and a bomb from the corner by Antonutti (5-0 after 1’30 ”). Chiusi raises his defensive intensity more and more and compared to game one he finds some three-pointers that are worth a counter-set of 11-0.

Walters from below breaks the long fast in attack and 3’11 ” from the first interval Udine has already changed the whole starting lineup. At 9-14 and a recovered ball Nobile, aware of the battle that awaits him and his teammates, calls the Carnera crowd together.

Musso puts it in three and Chiusi closes the partial six. He starts again with the unusual bomb by Ciccio Pellegrino (18-21). When Italiano has to go out for a shot in the thigh, Boniciolli opts for the solution with two centers and three small ones. The results do not bear the hoped-for results.

Udine in defense is not the usual: Lacey twice loses the opponent under the basket and when he returns to the bench he seems to limp. Wilson is a sentence from the outside, on the other side Udine clings to an extraordinary Cappelletti who with two bombs signs the 38 equal.

Chiusi is not upset, he finds a lucky basket after a great defense of Udine then on the siren Musso places the bomb of the plus five.

The most eloquent data that leaps to the interval are the points on the second shots: 12-0 for Chiusi who billed the eleven offensive rebounds. Watching the glass as half full being only 5 down after such a match is a hopeful sign.

In the third quarter the inertia of the race does not change. Udine struggles to find the right spacing in attack thanks to the Tuscan defense and a little too much frenzy in attack, he arrives several times to minus two, Lacey also has the bomb of overtaking but misses it after Wilson had made 0 on 2 from the line.

Ancellotti who scores from the average (52-59) is a bad sign for Udine who closes below 55-62. Chiusi in three quarters scored nine points more than he had put together in all game one.

It starts again and Udine produces the maximum effort without Lacey behind the basket to make an exercise bike.

Giuri proves to have the attributes by putting two bombs that are pure oxygen to go up from minus eight, Antonutti marks the free of the same then Cappelletti with a left-handed pad sends Udine with the nose forward after a lifetime (68-66 at 4’40 ” from the end).

It is now a struggle on the edge of the nerves. At 70-68 Walters makes 0 on 2 from the line, Musso misses the bomb of the possible extension and 25 ” from the end Cappelletti begins the last action: the two-point shot Walters takes the rebound and the referee Chiara Maschietto of Treviso whistles a foul, the fifth, in Medford. Brandon makes no mistake this time and in the last 3 ” Chiusi does not find the extra basket or even the victory.

Coach Bassi and his deputy rushed furiously against the Treviso whistle. Their reaction is understandable, but this is basketball. See you on Friday in Chiusi for game three.