The away victory in Reggio Emilia certainly gave motivation and morale, as well as two points of great importance in the fight to not retreat. It is with this spirit that Cantù Basketball is preparing to face Fortitudo Bologna tomorrow, Saturday 2 January in Desio (starting at 20).
The two contenders – in the photo a match from the past – are in the lower part of the standings, second to last on par with Trieste. A situation that could have been expected from the Acqua S.Bernardo, whose goal is salvation. The Emilians were aiming for a very different tournament. In fact, the season began with a character like Romeo Sacchetti – also the coach of the national team – on the bench. Then the lack of results led to a change and the arrival of the former canturino Luca Dalmonte, who is bringing Fortitudo back on track: his balance, so far, is three wins in four races.
A challenge, therefore, which promises to be anything but easy, with a series of exes on both sides, even if someone could be absent due to injury. The Canturino coach Cesare Pancotto led the Bolognese in the 2009-2010 tricolor championship, but without great luck. The American Maarten Leunen until last season played with the Emilians.
In Fortitudo, in addition to the coach Dalmonte, Stefano Mancinelli, Pietro Aradori and Marco Cusin have already been registered for the Brianza club.
Cantù, therefore, is called to confirm to give continuity to the success of Reggio Emilia and to start the new year in the best possible way.
“Fortitudo is a high-level formation and I am not going to dwell only on its current position in the standings – says Cesare Pancotto – it is an opponent rich in quality and athleticism, characteristics that it has managed to demonstrate not only by winning three of the last four matches, but also overcoming some difficult moments ».
At the same time Cantù is back from a great success and has raised his head after the internal stop with Brescia. «A victory always concretizes the sacrifices made. With Reggio Emilia – underlines the Acqua S.Bernardo coach – in addition to the favorable result, we also expressed a certain quality of the game and this, by virtue of the good things we had managed to do in previous outings, is very important for us. . In the end it is a prize to those who, and I am speaking of both staff and players, work hard all week to make this happen ».
Finally, Pancotto allows himself a reflection on the inclusion of the new signing, the British center Kavell Bigby-Williams and on the return of the play holder Jaime Smith.
«We are working with Kavell to put him in the psycho-physical condition to play in the Italian league and to allow him to fit in the best possible way within a group that has been working together for five months. As for Jaime, who is an important leader of ours, his return is significant because it gives everyone confidence, certainty and security ».
