REGGIO EMILIA – Game 4 of the playoff quarterfinals between Reggiana Basketball and the Reyer Venice it’s an orogranata monologue. The guests won 95-92 after having always been in command. The high percentages from beyond the arc – over 55% – and greater aggression from Spahjia’s athletes allowed the guests to tie the series at 2-2 and now play for the next round at home on Monday evening. Unahotels tried, but they found themselves faced with a very solid team which, despite without Kabengele, managed to make itself equally dangerous, finding, as mentioned, many points with the heavy shot which in fact paved the way to victory. Unfortunately, the further comeback attempt came too late and the final -3 leaves a bad taste in the mouth considering the 10 missed free throws. So meet on Monday evening at 8.45pm at Taliercio: whoever wins goes to the semi-final.
In the other quarter, Tortona, beating Virtus 82-75, draws the series 2-2 which will be decided in Bologna at the end of the day.
The scoreboard
UNAHOTELS REGGIO EMILIA – UMANA VENEZIA 92-95
UNAHOTELS REGGIO EMILIA: Weber 10, Bonaretti, Cipolla, Galloway 15, Faye 120, Smith 10, Uglietti 2, Atkins 2, Black 14, Vitali 15, Grant 2, Chillo 2. Coach: Priftis.
HUMAN VENICE: Spissu 11, Tessitori 8, Heidegger 11, Casarin, De Nicolao 10, O’Connell, Janelidze, Parks, Brooks, Simms 14, Wiltjer 17, Tucker 24. Coach: Spahija.
Referees: Attard, Borgioni, Perciavalle
Partial: 21-31; 25-20; 23-23; 23-21
Note: technical foul on the Reggio bench in the 7th minute. Unsportsmanlike foul to Wiltjer at 8. Unsportsmanlike foul against Tessitori in the 23rd minute. Technical foul to Heidegger in the 26th minute. Unsportsmanlike foul against De Nicolao in the 32nd minute. Black comes off for fouls in the 36th minute. Spissu comes off for fouls in the 39th minute. Weber comes off for fouls at 39’30”.
The news
First quarter
The match begins with these quintets: Reggio fields Weber, Galloway, Vitali, Chillo and Faye, while for Venice there are Spissu, Tucker, Casarin, Simms and Tessitori. The protagonists of the early stages are Tucker and Simms for the guests, while Vitali is the only one to score with 8 points. Already from these lines one gets the impression that, as is obvious, the two teams will give life to a very fought and physical. the pace is decidedly high and coach Priftis opts to start the rotations in the middle of the quarter. Chillo comes out, as a precaution, after his second foul and Reyer takes advantage of the excellent streak from the arc (5/5) to go up 23-14. Black misses two easy chances, Priftis gets too hot and a technician arrives at the red and white bench. In this fraction the human team is almost perfect and manages to double Unahotels at 28 to 14. Black scores and suffers an unsportsmanlike call from Wiltjer, thus 3 points are recovered. This difficult partial ends for Reggio at 21-31.
Second quarter
Venice continues with the excellent percentage of 6.75, while Reggio still has to find its continuity and above all struggles to attack with fluidity. Unahotels is 2/8 against Umana’s 6/7 in three-point shooting and this is making the difference, at 24-38. A mini break of 9-0 arrives with Smith, Faye and Weber, while the decibels of the Pala Bigi crowd increase. If Reyer continues to successfully hammer 3s, a good 11-point Faye is making room in the match. The red and whites are forcing the comeback and putting so much energy on the parquet that they recover to -2, while on the other side, Wiltjer commits his third foul. At the moment of a possible attack Reggio loses a bit of clarity in attack, so Venezia takes advantage of it to get back to +7. Galloway’s first 3 points arrive from the foul line and all at long break at 46-51.
Third fourth
It recovers with a turnover and an error from underneath, while Vitali unlocks the score in the quarter with a bomb. The captain hits the target again, scoring -2, but Tucker immediately brings the margin back to 4 in favor of Venezia. Then comes an unsportsmanlike foul sanctioned against Tessitori, but Reggio doesn’t take advantage of the extra possession and Tucker scores at the end of the action from 10 metres. Reyer is consistently at 60% from beyond the arc and has Tucker at 22 points, a constant thorn in Reggio’s side. With these two variables Umana moves to +10 with 3 minutes to play in this half. On the red and white front, Galloway’s points and Smith’s shooting surgery are missing like air, while Tarik Black forces the visiting defense into many fouls and reaches 13. With an aggressive defense, Unahotels recovers two balls and returns to -5 at the mermaid: 69-74.
Fourth quarter
Galloway is released from the field for -2, but two more triples from Wiltjer and De Nicolao push Unahotels back. De Nicolao is guilty of a naive unsportsmanlike act, Faye misses the two free throws and Vitali’s subsequent conclusion stops on the first iron. Smith, however, doesn’t fail and scores the first bomb of his evening. When completing the comeback, Reggio made some mistakes that paved the way for Venice to thank them, taking the score from 87 to 79 with 4 and a half minutes to go. Black goes out for fouls, Wiltjer brings his score to +11, after a recovery by Simms who then remains on the ground in pain and has to leave the field. Unahotels struggles a lot and collects little, despite the determination of Vitali and Smith. Galloway’s 2/11 is one of the most negative notes of this game 4 and the lack of understanding between Vitali and Smith, with the related lost ball, smacks of surrender. Venezia wins with merit 95-92 and therefore the fifth match will be needed, this time at Taliercio, to decide the semi-finalist.
