RAVENNA – You never forget the first time, but in this case also the last. The last game that Datom’s Teeth plays on Italian soil with the national team, before flying to Manila for the World Cup which starts on August 25th and then closes a career on the field full of victories and satisfactions. Italy wins 98-65, Gigione scores five points playing a total of ten minutes, but it doesn’t matter. The 4 thousand and more of the Pala De Andrè, in Ravenna, are all for the captain: they raise a banner (“Like Dante, your blue path ends in Ravenna“), they do the choreography with the cards with a blue background with the white writing “Datome 70”, they shout his name every time, many times, that the speaker asks for the voice of the audience present. 80 seconds from the end the exit from the field, the embrace of his teammates, the standing ovation. In short, the party as it had been imagined, the only regret that at the end of the game coach Pozzecco announces that the last two cuts are Thomas Woldetensae and Guglielmo Caruso. For them, the blue summer ends here, but they will have other opportunities.
This is national gods Procida and the Spanish, respectively 16 and 15 points scored, it’s Momo Diouf’s national team who scores nine points, fights, snorts and elbows under the basket like a veteran, it’s Luca Severini’s blue, perhaps starting in the second row in the coach’s choices, but who managed to conquer the World Cup with convincing performances. Then, obviously, it’s the big national team, Datome, Melli, Ricci, Polonara and once again Fontecchio, yesterday’s top scorer. Spissu and Pajola also go to Manila, two point guards who compensate for each other and Tonut who seems to have regained that confidence, even with his goals, which he seemed to have lost in recent months at Olimpia Milano.
With last night’s victory, Italy completes a clear path in the friendlies played so far: 5 wins in as many games. The viaticum bodes well, even if it is still a matter of matches without the “two points up for grabs”. After the first success against Turkey, very suffered and arrived after extra time, the blue team broke up in the final of the Trentino Cup dominating China and then also conquering the Acropolis Trophy thanks to the successes against Serbia and the hosts of Greece. Two solid matches, with the opponents held to low scores, with choices in attack almost always appropriate. Against Puerto Rico, the game lasts five minutes, the time to take measures, close the first period ahead by nine, spread in the third and suffer nothing more in defense until the end. On August 17, the departure for Asia, a stop in China, in Shenzen, two friendlies, on the 20th against Brazil, on the 21st against New Zealand, then in Manila. One awaits us group with Angola, Philippines and Dominican Republic: you need three victories to go to the second stage with a solid foundation.
UNDER 16 SILVER BEHIND SPAIN – On the other hand, the blue dream of the Under 16 European title fades away. Coach Mangone’s blues are out defeated by Spain 77-68but playing evenly for almost 38 minutes.
After a difficult first half closed down 41-32, the Azzurrini come back from minus 12 and overtake up to +5 (63-58). A 19-5 run in the last three and a half minutes allows Spain to take off and win the event. There are many reasons for satisfaction for the blue team: a silver that had been missing since 1991 (the last medal in the category was the bronze in 2019), qualification for the Under 17 World Cup next year, the confirmation of already strong youngsters like Perez, included in the best quintet of the ‘European, and Garavaglia, 19 points and 8 rebounds in the final. In a summer lacking in satisfaction at the junior level, both in men’s and women’s, this medal is a beacon from which to start again.
1970-01-01 00:00:00
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