The Sassari pass on the Varese field and fly at the head of group B. Tomorrow qualification match in Cremona
SENT TO VARESE. Solid, concrete, at times even beautiful and decidedly chameleonic. Dinamo breaks through Varese’s Enerxnia Arena for 82-92 at the end of a hard-fought match and takes the lead in group B of the Super Cup. Tomorrow in Cremona, already defeated in Sassari on Saturday evening, the boys of Demis Cavina have the opportunity to put a mortgage on the qualification for the Final Eight.
A step forward. Many things can be improved, as it is obvious that it is after just two official races, but in the meantime the Sassari have been good at solving the enormous defensive problems of the start along the way (24 points granted in the first 7’20 “) and in the second part of the competition, while Varese ran out of cartridges (almost all fired by Ale Gentile), the Sassari were able to differentiate the shots, sending six men in double figures and capitalizing on the good contribution given also by those who have left almost no traces in the statistics.
A complicated start. The departure of the hosts is aggressive, that of Dinamo a little less: the Gentile brothers challenge each other from beyond the arc and both hit the center, Mekowulu starts to take turns but the Sassaresi’s problem is the defense. Cavina tries to change something, inserting Battle in place of Burnell, but the Banco is discovered on the arc and collects three triples in a row: Wilson and Ferrero dig the first set twice, 24-17 after just over 7 ‘. Too much even for Cavina, who asks for a timeout and sends Logan inside. The intensity changes, the man of the Treble immediately puts in 8 points and signs the hook at the start of the second period (26-26), after the 26-23 of the first siren.
Connection tests. Cavina lines up the Gandini-Treier couple close to the basket for a few minutes and meanwhile Battle signs the first Sassarese overtaking from the line, at 28-30. Varese totally relies on Ale Gentile, who scores continuously, Dinamo have more weapons but above all they have Logan, who is already at 13, while Bendzius from under signs the 34-39 mid-quarter. With the release of the spare pair of longs, Dinamo slows down, also because Mekowulu is unable to resume laps while Gentile is unstoppable and with his personal point number 21 he signs the hook at an altitude of 43. Masnago’s public makes itself heard, Banco keeps the bar straight and arrives at the interval with a goal advantage, 45-47.
The best Dinamo. Upon returning to the field we finally see Clemmons, who scores 9 points almost in a row, while Bendzius already has three fouls and must get out. Clemmons also invents a 4-point game and leads Banco to escape, who with a free throw from Mekowulu makes +7, 52-59 at 24 ‘. As with Cremona, Dinamo makes trivial mistakes (two throw-ins thrown away), but Dinamo’s counter moves arrive immediately and Logan, just back, signs the 58-67 bomb from the corner. In the meantime Gentile from Varese has awakened, already at an altitude of 31, which together with the former Sorokas brings back under his, 65-69, before the extension of Logan and Battle for 67-74 which closes the period.
Souls on. Another 5-point blaze from Logan immediately gives Banco +10 (69-79), but the road is still long. Logan gets a technician for protests, Battle breaks through on the counterattack, Egbunu goes to crush the -7, 75-82 at 5’30 ”from the end of the match. There is still a life to play and anything can happen: for example, it happens that Ale Gentile and Mekowulu come to blows over a contested ball: both are sent off at 3’50 ”at 75-84. The balance, however, does not change and Sassari hold the reins of the mach up to the siren.
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