Without Marcus Brown, left to rest as a precaution, Virtus Ragusa loses to Castanea Messina after one balanced race but chase for long stretches. For coach Recupido’s team it is the fifth defeat of the season (the fourth away) which does not, however, jeopardize the path towards the second phase. Virtus, in fact, had already hitched the train to the Play-In Gold with last Sunday’s victory in Reggio Calabria against Viola. The knockout of PalaCus interrupts a string of four successes, but only leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
The defeat made by Baldaro’s quintet in the second set was decisive for the defeat, in addition to the three-point percentage (5/24) and the turnovers (19) which the very good performances of Sorrentino and Gaetano were unable to make up for. For the big man from Ragusa 16 points and 12 rebounds (with a rating of 36). In the last quarter, with Virtus back on the waterline (56-55), Messina accelerates with an 8-1 run that proves fatal.
“Probably after the victory against Reggio we relaxed a bit – is the comment of coach Gianni Recupido – We went onto the pitch without fighting and without adequate attention. It was a bad performance from every point of view. With these premises the result could only be negative. Nothing changes for the ranking, but I hope that today’s episode makes us understand that if we don’t always fight it becomes difficult to achieve our goals.”
This is the scoreboard:
Castanea Messina-Virtus Ragusa 71-60
Castanea Messina: Lucchesi ne, Bellomo 10, Yakimovski ne, Cordaro 6, Diaw, Incitti 17, Chakir 5, Russo, D’Aiello 8, Ferenc 19, Husam 6. Coach: Baldaro
The power of Ragusa: Brown ne, Piscetta 6, Epifani, Cioppa 9, Simon 6, Cascone ne, Vavoli 7, Sorrentino 16, Gaetano 16, Mirabella, Calvi ne. All.: Recupido
Referees: Greco from Catanzaro and Caputo from Lamezia Terme
Partial: 18-18; 36-29; 53-48.
Note. Out for five fouls: Bellomo and Chakir (C), Vavoli (R)