NAPLES WARS – ACQUA S.BERNARDO CANTÙ 98 – 86
(21-21, 30-19, 21-17, 26-28)
Guerri Napoli: Flagg 6, Mitrou-Long 20, El-Amin 10, Croswell 14, Faggian 4, Saccoccia NE, Gloria NE, Treier 5, Gentile, Simms 16, Caruso 6, Bolton 17.
Acqua S.Bernardo Cantù: Gilyard 14, Moraschini 15, De Nicolao, Ballo 4, Bortolani 16, Sneed, Basile 8, Green 11, Ajayi 6, Okeke.
Referees: Gonella, Noce, Miniati.
Incredible what happened in Naples. It was all the fault of a broken basket after a dunk by Grant Basile. And Cantù, who was leading and controlling the match, gets lost after almost an hour’s break and loses (98-86).
Normal match until the third minute of the second quarter. S.Bernardo has the strength to run away at the start (9-0) and keep the situation in hand until Guerri returns and the score is 21-21 at the first siren.
But it’s on 26-27 that the patatrack happens. Sensational assist from De Nicolao for Basile, who goes to dunk on his own and also breaks the basket. The race stops, first an attempt is made to replace the ring, then the entire structure is actually changed.
But 50-odd minutes of rest are too many, especially for a team, the visiting one, which unlike the home team didn’t even have time to stay warm using the adjusted basket.
We leave again after less than an hour. The basket is fixed, Cantù breaks. Who takes a 19-6 score in the face and then goes to the locker room at 51-40, at that point the Neapolitans’ maximum advantage.
Maximum advantage that gradually updates in the third quarter, that of the collapse. Guerri is in full throttle, S.Bernardo has a crooked aim. Result in the 30th minute was almost inevitable, 72-57.
Cantù tries the last assault for a sort of mission impossible. Napoli raises the wall and doesn’t even give their opponent the illusion of being able to try to do it. In fact, even when it reaches -9, Brienza’s team is immediately pushed back to -18 (86-69) in the 36th minute.
