European basketball, Italy-Ukraine 73-84: Polonara 17 points, Fontecchio 14

Bad defeat for Italy in the third match at the European Championships in Milan. Ukraine, beaten by the Azzurri less than two weeks ago for qualifying for the 2023 World Cup, wins 84-73 dominating the last quarter. After two defeats in three games, the passage of the round is not compromised for Italy, given that the first 4 of the group of 6 qualify and the last match will be Thursday against Great Britain. But the placement in the standings could result in a tougher pairing in the Berlin round of 16. Tomorrow at 9 pm there is Croatia and the Forum is sold out as it was on Saturday against Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece.

I start like this

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It is not a brilliant Italy from the start. With Achille Polonara, who became a father for the second time in a few hours of Achille junior, and the usual Simone Fontecchio also gains 10 points ahead in the second quarter but is soon recovered from Ukraine pushed by Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, a very dangerous wing of the Toronto Raptors shooting. The defense of the Azzurri is not effective and its most authoritative representative, Nicolò Melli, plays only 8 minutes in the first two quarters after committing the third foul.

Bad recovery

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4 points ahead at half-time, Italy struggled even in the third set that Ukraine ended in a draw at 57 and then overtook at the beginning of the last quarter. The 22-year-old play of Burkinabé origin, Issuf Sanon pushes his team up to +11 at the halfway point, while Melli and also Ricci have 4 fouls and the attack languishes: only 2 points scored in over 6 minutes. When Melli himself commits the 5th foul on a penetration by Tkachenko, Italy goes down by 14 points and it’s over. Among the Ukrainians, the best scorers Mykhailiuk, Sanon and Tkachenko with 25, 17 and 17 points, for the blues in double figures Polonara, Fontecchio and Spissu with 17, 14 and 11 points.