Il Monferrato> Unieuro Forlì surprises Novipiù at the “PalaEnergica” by winning a comeback 78-79

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Basket Serie A2

Top scorer Fabio Valentini, with 14 points. Double-digit return for Okeke, who scores 13 points and captures 10 rebounds. The JBM can finish in 7th or 8th place

Fabio Valentini, best scorer of Novipiù with 14 points (f. JBM)

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With the certainty of a place in the playoffs, Forlì and Novipiù play to earn the best position on the grid and to find those automatisms that will be essential in the elimination phase of the post season. Novipiù takes the field with the right attitude, finding excellent conclusions in the first half with Martinoni and Sarto. The Unieuro alternates moments of great offensive clarity at times in which he is unrecognizable; Novipiù takes advantage of this, leading calmly to the long interval. Coach Valentini’s boys do not perceive the signals of great cohesion launched by Forlì in the third quarter and are surprised by Bolpin’s triples and Bruttini’s plays in the last fraction. Going down even by 8 points, the JBM tries to organize a final assault, recovering until it can try the triple of the victory with Sarto with 16 “from the end, a shot that however the“ PalaEnergica ”basket does not accept. It ends with the triumph of Forlì, who wins a match that seemed already assigned to Novipiù. Casale now has to wait for the result of the match in Mantua, which he faces at Latina on Sunday. In case of victory of the Virgilians, the JBM will close eighth and will have Scafati (before the Red Round) as an opponent in the playoff quarter series; in the event of Mantua’s defeat, he will be seventh and will find Verona. In both cases, the team of coach Valentini will have the unfavorable home factor, with game-one and game-two away.

At home rossoblù Luca Valentini is still injured, while Okeke is back at his disposal after injuring his leg. For the last match of the clock phase, coach Andrea Valentini lined up Fabio Valentini, Sarto, Williams, Hill-Mais and Martinoni on the parquet at the start. The match begins with a masterful triple from Sarto; in the first minutes the JBM tries to talk in attack, finding points with Martinoni under the basket or from long distance. Bruttini reduces the gap on 4 ‘by setting the score at 12-9. Forlì in attack always tries to force the changes of the rossoblùs, taking advantage of the movements of his wildcard Lucas. Enter Okeke and Ghirlanda, propitiating Sarto’s triple on 18-11 at 7 ‘, a basket that convinces coach Dell’Agnello to stop the match. With Giachetti, Bruttini and Formenti in the field, the experience on the parquet is definitely at the highest levels. Leggio’s triple on the siren closes the first fraction at 26-15. He resumed with Unieuro who, after taking advantage of his great mobility to put the rossoblù defense in difficulty, no longer found the right timing in the offensive movements, freezing. Rush and Giachetti come on, both scoring by three, while the scoreboard scores 31-21. The former Natali, a boy who left a great memory at the “PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris”, also signs up. Coach Valentini calls him to 39-27 for the necessary tactical adjustments. Moment of great confusion for JBM, who relives the nightmare of constant turnovers; Forlì takes advantage of the moment for comfortable baskets on the counterattack. Okeke, after the trip to the line, is the first player to reach double figures in his personal score. The first half ends 48-35.

Rush scored the first points of the second half, after a start marked by good actions by the visiting team not crowned by the basket. High intensity duel between Pullazzi and Hill-Mais, while Bruttini continues to find unexpected spaces in the JBM defense. Forlì patiently mends the gap. On +6 (56-50) coach Valentini calls the timeout; the bench of the Unieuro is all to applaud the partial of him, loads to a thousand. Williams tries to reverse the inertia of the moment, with Forlì climbing up to -3, with Bolpin and Bruttini continuing to build excellent actions that are not always rewarded with points. The third period ends with Okeke’s beautiful block; 63-54 the score on the scoreboard. The Unieuro continues to believe in it, defending with great physical intensity since the throw-in. Bruttini brings the guests back to -3 (63-60 at 32 ‘), Jacopo Giachetti finds the paw of the draw by scoring from three. Now the match has a completely different intensity; coach Dell’Agnello wants to better organize the last minutes, drawing the patterns in the timeout. He returns to the Hill-Mais parquet, taking over Leggio. Excellent moment of Ghirlanda, who stops Gancetti on the three-man attempt. Lucas from behind the arc brings Forlì forward for the first time (67-68) while Fabio Valentini commits his fourth personal foul. Bolpin finds two consecutive triples that lead Forlì to +5, a partial rounded by Pullazzi for 69-77, a score on which the rossoblù bench stops the hostilities. Welcome sacrifices himself on Hill-Mais, committing his fifth personal foul and having to leave the field by regulation. The Formenti bomb, completely overshadowed by Forlì, brings the JBM back to -1 (76-77 at 38 ‘) inflaming the fans present. Fabio Valentini completes the comeback, bringing Novipiù forward. Lucas in complete isolation scores 78-79. Giachetti touches the ball to Formenti at 12 ” from the siren, a very important action in the match’s economy. Hill-Mais recovers a very important ball, but in the development of the action Sarto misses the triple of the victory with 16 ” from the end, with the ball that climbs on the board preventing Novipiù from fighting off the rebound. With only one second from the siren and two fouls to commit to send Forlì to the bezel, the JBM must surrender. The match ends with a score of 78-79.

Four players in the rossoblù jersey closed the match in double figures. Hill-Corn scores 11 points, Williams closes the match with 10 points. Fabio Valentini is the top scorer of the match, with 14 points while he ends the match of the return in double figures Okeke (13 points and 10 rebounds). The JBM has a realization percentage of 45% of the shots attempted, with 10/22 in the shot from the moon distance, while Forlì closes the match with 41% of the shots attempted. At the interval along the JBM led with a percentage of shots made of 55% (9/14 from three), while Forlì stopped at 38%. Novipiù dominates the rebound challenge (49-31) and leads just a little in the count of assists, which ended 19-17. Key statistic to explain Unieuro’s victory is the turnovers count, with JBM scoring 21 possessions that did not end with a shot attempt.

This is coach’s comment Andrea Valentini at the end of the game: «There is a bit of regret about how the match ended, because this defeat will probably make us finish in eighth place, even if we have to wait for the results of Sunday’s matches. The balance of this Regular Season is however positive: we close with 15 won and 15 lost, we went to the Final Eight of the Super Cup and the Italian Cup. The guys have always done their best and I am happy with what they have done. We will be in the playoffs and for our club it is a very important result, because we are a new club. Tonight we had an excellent first half, in which we ran and kept the pace high, while in the second we walked and, in doing so, we lost fluidity in attack and we had to change our way of defending. In the playoffs we will battle anyone we meet from the Red Group. Now comes the fun: in the playoffs we all start from scratch and it is important to be able to play this month for something that matters. I invite the Casalese public to be as numerous as possible in the match we will play at home, hoping to be able to play two. I thank all the fans who have come to support us so far and to see what the boys have put on the pitch every Sunday. With the easing of anti-Covid measures, I hope that the public will come and give us a hand to be able to aspire to something beautiful “.

NOVIPIU ‘JB MONFERRATO – UNIEURO FORLI’ 78-79 (26-15; 48-35; 63-54)

NOVIPIÙ JBM: Fabio Valentini 14 (4/7, 2/5), Okeke 13 (3/4, 1/2), Hill-Mais 11 (2/3, 1/2), Williams 10 (4/14, 0/1) , Martinoni 9 (3/10, 1/1), Sarto 8 (1/1, 2/7), Lectern 6 (2/3 of three), Formenti 5 (1/1, 1/1), Ghirlanda 2 ( 1/2). Sirchia, Feng and Lomele in All. A. Valentini.
FORLÌ: Bolpin 19 (5/8, 3/6), Lucas 14 (4/10, 1/4), Benvenuti 13 (5/6, 1/1), Bruttini 9 (2/9, 1/1), Pullazi 9 (2/7, 1/3), Rush 7 (2/5, 1/4), Giachetti 6 (0/4, 2/4), Natali 2 (1/2, 0/1), Bandini. Palumbo and Ndour in All. S. Dell’Agnello.