NAPLES WINNING GENERATION – GIVOVA SCAFATI 102-92
PARTIALS: 25-25; 56-46; 85-72
NAPLES: Pullen 13, Zubcic 20, Ennis 19, De Nicolao 2, Owens 3, Brown 11, Sokolowski 14, Lever 13, Bamba ne, Mabor 5, Saccoccia 2, Ebeling. All.: Milicic.
SCAFATI: Morvillo none, Sangiovanni none, Blakes 17, Gentile 10, Henry none, Mouaha 5, Pinkins 13, Rossato 18, Robinson 17, Nunge 4, Pini 2 Gamble 6. All.: Boniciolli.
Robinson, Rossato, Mouaha, Pinkins and Nunge are Scafati’s starting five, Napoli on the pitch with
De Nicolao, Pullen, Brown, Lever and Owens.
If the yardstick by which to read the derby is that of competitive spirit and energy, Robinson, Pinkins and Rossato on one side, De Nicolao, Lever and Mabor on the other are certainly not lacking. These are the protagonists of the first Givova break (7-13 at 6’24”) to which Napoli responds by finalizing the return with Mabor’s smash following excellent circulation (14-13), from that moment it is a back and forth, an infinite series of overtaking and counter-overtaking in which both Ennis and Zubcic fit in well on the Naples side, and both Gentile and Blakes on the other, it is no coincidence that they collide in the 10th minute at 25-25.
The back and forth seems to be the underlying theme of the derby, but with Ennis and Zubcic still fired up, Napoli offers good basketball and makes the first push, going up 39-31 with 5’51” left. Scafati still manages to get back in the wake with Gamble’s 2+1 and Robinson’s volley support, however an excellent moment arrives on both sides of Lever, in fact the former Trieste player together with Brown, Owens and Zubcic again from arc makes Gerry Blakes’ excellent verve useless and gives Gevi the 56-46 half-time lead.
The foreign guest from Pistoia starts to pierce the retina again, with Robinson’s gypsy Scafati halves the gap in less than a minute, something reiterated in 2+1 by Pinkis after Zubcic’s bomb on an excellent offload. Owens goes up in a four-fault amen, at 7’49” Lever enters and immediately hits a 3 and like him also Sokolowski, Napoli maintains the margin also taking advantage of the hemorrhage of lost balls that Scafati drags on in the first half, a hemorrhage which is they add the fouls of Gentile who with the counter shot at 70-59 rises to four personal ones. Givova still tries and finds points below with Pinkins and Nunge, two consecutive fouls arrive from Pullen who however with five in a row gives Napoli the +13 (77-64 at 2’39”), Milicic then goes with Mabor and Saccoccia, and the very young ones don’t disappoint. The first in fact goes for a rebound/dunk, the second with two free throws, on the other side Givova is only Robinson and a proud shot from Rossato, a partial which ends with the flying support from Lever and the baseline from De Nicolao, 85-72 Gevi in the 30th minute.
Mouaha’s bomb opens the last 10 minutes of the bell season but the former Latina also scores four fouls, Givova who gets even closer with the good movement of Pini but reaches the bonus with 7’40” to play, Napoli brings him back in Owens and Ebeling while Rossato with a jumper scores -6. Ennis then responds with a penetrating number but after a good defense comes the fourth from Sokolowski, Gevi who recovers anyway and with Zubcic he earns the two out of two of the new +10 with 6′ clear from the end (89-79). However, Rossato doesn’t give up on the other side, Mouaha with another good number creates another guest break in an amen Milicic goes to time-out. Upon returning, Gentile punishes with the -4 jumper and there is the Pullen substitution for Zubcic and it is spot on, in fact after Ennis puts in another patch with points and rebounds, the former Brindisi player goes with the trademark and the bomb of the new one + 9. Boniciolli calls his men to gather, Gentile responds but Pullen with a gypsy takes full spoils in the line, Gentile again but to force and fifth foul by Mouaha which gives the release to two other blue free throws signed by Brown. Just two minutes to go, Pinkins gets two fouls with three free throws but time passes inexorably, Sokolowski comes close to reaching 100 with one out of two free throws, the Pole however takes the honor and does it with a bomb and it could only be Like this. It ends with the trademark of a positive season with the third salvation in a row, indeed historic for Naples with the third Italian Cup on the board. Final 102-92 but it had been salvation for some time for Scafati too: the Campania of baskets can look forward with confidence, still with two teams at the starting line of the A 24-25.
