The Old Wild West stretches immediately and in the second part of the race manages the advantage. All the bianconeri bring their contribution. Verona arrives at Carnera on Wednesday
MANTUA. A good first for the Apu Old Wild West, who strolls at the Grana Padano Arena in their seasonal debut in the Super Cup against Mantua. Challenge without history, Apu too strong for opponents without, among other things, the American Thompson.
The starting quintet from Udine is made up of Cappelletti, Nobile, Italiano, Antonutti and Walters. Ready-to-go and the bianconeri go over the table of three: bombs in sequence by Cappelletti, Antonutti and Cappelletti again for the Friulian 3-9 after 2 ‘.
In the middle of the first fraction, Boniciolli’s rotations start, adding Pellegrino, Giuri, Ebeling, Esposito and the “gettonaro” Lautier. The interpreters change but the score does not change, because the ball round of the boys from the West is oiled to perfection and generates several shots from the outside with their feet on the ground: Ebeling and Lautier hit on time and at 9 ‘the advantage from Udine is already in double figures on 14-24.
In the second quarter the Apu leads the match smoothly, the gap between the two teams is evident and Nobile signs the +11 (17-28) with a stop and shot. Mantova tries to hold on to the game, and is good at taking advantage of a couple of turnovers from Udine to attack in transition with the former Cortese and the young playmaker Saladini: 28-34 ‘in the 16’.
Nothing to worry about, because Cappelletti rings the alarm clock to the sound of assists and the Old Wild West gives the decisive jolt to the match with a partial of 14-3 for +17 on 31-48. The mid-game statistics show the clear superiority of the Friulians: 47% at the three-point shot against 25% of the locals, 22 rebounds at 13, 14 assists at 6.
In the second half the match takes on the shape of a summer friendly, not to say “garbage time”, the two technicians experiment and the Apu in complete tranquility over the 20 points lead (33-54) with two free shots by Pellegrino. At the end of the third quarter Udine relaxes, Walters instead gets nervous and the Stings take advantage of it to build a 6-0 run and get back to -13 (46-59).
It is a script already seen in the second quarter, in fact for the bianconeri it is enough to tap the accelerator to extend it further: triple by Giuri, still on the edge of 24 ”, and +18 (46-64) at the third siren. Last quarter with the APU to engage the automatic pilot and Boniciolli to distribute the time equally to all his men. The first two points are in the safe, appointment on Wednesday evening for the Carnera match against Tezenis Verona.