Old Wild West, the streak continues: it beats Capo d’Orlando at Carnera and remains first

UDINE. The Old Wild West continues to win. This time the Carnera fall, with great honor for the arms, fell to Capo d’Orlando. Team full of talent and youth crushed by the infinite talent available to coach Boniciolli in a game in which the big man Walters, finally thinking only of playing, made a great contribution.

Boss, without three plays (also the former Traini) and the coach out for Covid, immediately finds himself in front of a team on the ball: Walters makes a big voice from below, Lacey scores from three and a good Ebeling dunks on the counterattack and then catches a “five” from the coach passing in front of the bench. Cappelletti creates, Walters, very lively and in the game, delivers. Just out of nostalgia, for goodness sake, Stokton-Malone model in Utah in the 90s. But if on Wednesday Cantù had a hard time beating the Sicilians there will be a reason: they are terrifying, the young King team and above all an absolutely on-fire Mack (great shooting technique, athleticism, Serie A stuff, note) they are, and well, in match. And they defend. Playing with the APU, however, is complicated. Because, thanks to infinite rotations, the pace imposed by the Friulians is always high. Cappelletti exits, Mussini enters (and well), Lacey exits and Giuri enters (and well). Pellegrino is now a certainty. And so on. Sooner or later you risk paying for it. Final of the first quarter: 28-20, pleasant game, with a triple encyclopedic at the end of Professor Giuri. What then does the Cappelletti and triggers a Walters, so far perfect. The great thing is that everyone tries to get the pivot involved.

Capo is struggling, he is held in the race with the extraterrestrial USA, but three plays are not given away, not even the bench and when the guys from the West manage to run it is hard. The leaders run, it doesn’t always do it. But when she gets to see her play it’s a show. Mid-game match addressed but not decided with the 50-41 because there is always Mack, 22 points in a half, which Lacey can not put the muzzle on. A year ago we saw something similar here: McDuffie from Piacenza. Do you remember? Now he plays in Naples and is fine.

Interval with ovation for Professor Mauro Ferrari, one with basketball in his heart, pride of Friuli and world guru of nanotechnologies applied to medicine. “Shall we go back to A1?”, Asks Carnera to “his about him”. Until two years ago in Houston he was enjoying James Harden. Lucky him.

Seventeen points from the bench to three. The difference between Apu and Orlandina is all there. We start again, Lacey gets the deck on Mack who drops a bit (otherwise he would be from Euroleague), Walters runs. Fight, he plays. A lot, finally. Score (in the end it will be 17 points). The APU holds the reins of the match, but does not kill him, because the Sicilians will also be 7 but they are good. With King and Mack, 40 points in two per game on average, but not only because, for example, Vecerina, Reggiani and Poser are three great prospects. And so the Apu treasure in the third quarter is thinned: 61-55.

As it happens, however, it’s up to one of the bench, Vittorio Nobile, to do an essential thing, to defend, and strong, on Mack (33 final points). Esposito does the same on King and Mussini makes a super basket. Boniciolli is playing the starting quintet (or almost) for the final 6 ‘from the end of a game that returns firmly in the hands of the hosts. The guys from the West are more, they are more talented, in the end they win 80-71. After a solid match and against a good team. On Sunday in Turin the bar will rise. And not a little. Reale Mutua will not be the Christmas Eve team seen in Friuli, but a year ago these days there was no match on the day of Mussini’s injury. In short, the road to glory also passes through sports stars. It has always been like that.