Tortona hits from distance (52%) and sends four players in double figures. Cavina’s team hadn’t lost in 7 games. Thursday in Voghera for race-3 PalaOltrepo sold out
TORINO. Crushes, personality, energy. The undisputed star of game 2 of the playoff final is the desire of Bertram Tortona who plays a perfect match with Turin, shooting with 52% from the long shot and sending four double-digit players who take turns taking turns to lead the match.
It ends 89-77 for the Lions who lead the whole match and have the physical and mental strength to throw back any attempt by Torino that hadn’t lost in seven games with two 3-0 trimmings in Verona and Mantua. Cannon and Severini return in an overwhelming way in the series that limit the game in post by Pimkins and his companions, although Clark (mvp with 24 points) and Alibegovic have tried until the end. After losing the first act of the series, the Lions leave with the hungry eyes of those who want to take away a race from the Pala Gianni Asti. In the large building with over four thousand people, the five hundred spectators are lost like wildfire, but they are noisy and on the pitch we start again from where the first game had ended: fight, physicality, but also many baskets at the start.
The former Alibegovic after the seven points on Saturday, starts the big game with two snatches: a penetration with a dunk and a shot from the area. The energy on the pitch is very high and Severini makes it clear to the longs from Turin that there is no joking under the basket with two consecutive blocks. After less than five minutes, the match takes an unexpected athletic turn: Diop’s dunk is answered by a nail from Sanders. The American has the face of someone who does not want to wait for the game, as a system player he sets up on his own, starting the action and ending it. Tortona cancels the longs of Turin, sweeps well and earns the first period (22-17) with a lot and good defense. Taken by surprise, Reale Mutua continues to have problems from the arc (23%) and Tortona runs away on 26-17. The counter break is served, but then the unexpected protagonist arrives: Ambrosin, not calculated from race 3 with Ravenna, scores eight important points. Alibegovic tries to take his team by the hand (11 points in the first 20 ‘), but on the other side the Tortonesi are a rubber wall and arrive in double figures (37-27). Reale Mutua is waiting for the buriana to pass, but Tortona is practically nothing wrong. Cappelletti tries to get inside Mascolo’s head who, after some actions in which he goes over the top, scores from the long shot: the first half ends 44-37 for Bertram.
The third period is the consecration of a strong team that is no longer the underdog of the series. The inertia initially changes, but Tortona is surgical, he capitalizes on the heavier balls and the gap increases (52-44). Turin does not give up, but Bertram is simply perfect with Cannon dominating under the basket and the right man found at every action. At best the +19 is a Fabi bomb. Everything succeeds at the Lions, Turin is in the most difficult moment of the season. Bertram has to manage the +16 with which the last quarter opens, but the race is not over. With a super small quintet Cavina tries by any means, but the parziFive-point wings only frighten Tortona who, under a shower of triples (and Mascolo decisive), takes home game 2 and waits for the Turinese on Thursday and Saturday in Voghera. Now with two home races, the A1 series is no longer a dream.
Marco quaglini