Reale Mutua Basket Torino is unable to get back up: the moment of decline continues for the yellow-blues who suffered their third defeat in a row at the PalaDozza in Bologna, this time at the hands of Flats Service Fortitudo Bologna, in a match where the Piedmontese team chased for the entire 40 minutes the home team almost always appeared to be in control of the game.
Turin is therefore tied to third place in the Green Group standings by Real Sebastiani Rieti, with the Rieti team boasting the direct clashes in their favor. We are therefore moving towards the last day of the clock phase which will decide the definitive placement of the Turin team (fourth, for the moment) in view of the playoffs.
Coach Franco Ciani finds Keondre Kennedy again, lining him up in the quintet together with Vencato, De Vico, Thomas and Poser. Coach Attilio Caja responds with Fantinelli, Aradori, Bolpin, Ogden and Freeman.
Match that shows a high level of intensity right from the start. The two teams don’t find space to hit from long range and therefore aim for the paint, with Fortitudo relying on the American duo Ogden-Freeman and Torino responding with Poser (8-5 after 3′ of play).
The recovered Kennedy also immediately broke free, scoring 4 points in a row for the first yellow-blue lead. Ogden doesn’t agree and responds to his compatriot, bringing Bologna back to +4. Torino argues with long-range percentages and Morgillo finds time for another basket with which the first quarter ends at 20-14.
Bologna tries to accelerate with the usual Ogden, Cusin scores from the post, but a yellow-blue turnover launches Ogden again on the counterattack for the dunk for +10 (28-18 at 13′). Torino is unable to find offensive continuity, arguing with the rim and falling into several turnovers, while Bologna takes advantage of this to move up to +14 (32-18 at 16′).
Vencato and De Vico manage to get rid of a few points of the deficit, bringing them back to single figures, but Luigi Sergio scores from three to push Torino back to -12 (35-23 at 17′). Before the end of the first half, Reale Mutua managed to get back to -8 with Vencato. We go to the locker room with the score 37-29.
In the third quarter the home team lights up from the arc and places an important break, with Reale Mutua unable to reply and slipping to -17 after the first five minutes of the second half: coach Ciani calls a timeout at 52-35. Upon returning to the pitch, Pepe tries to make a charge, first stealing a ball for two easy points and then scoring from the arc for the momentary -11, but Flats Service interrupts the yellow-blue reaction attempt, continuing to keep control of the game and going to close the third quarter at +12: 60-48.
In the last fraction Torino continues to argue with shooting percentages and seems to have less and less of them compared to Fortitudo who in the meantime takes off (69-52 with 5′ to go). Cusin scores from mid range, on the other side a naivety of the yellow-blues leads to a triple by Ogden which increasingly seals the outcome of the match in favor of the white-blues. The last minutes seem to be a pure formality, with Reale Mutua lacking the clarity needed to recover. It ends 78-59.
Coach Franco Ciani in the post-match: “Obviously it was a match that didn’t put you in a good mood, due to the result and the progress of certain moments within the match. After the defeat against Rimini we said to ourselves that we should be ready for the playoffs, we still reiterate this. We must continue to work, take ideas for improvement, start again from the good things shown despite the latest defeats, continue to reintroduce Kennedy into the match rhythm, and therefore restore a general polish to our game. We have a duty to think about arriving ready for the playoffs.”
Flats Service Fortitudo Bologna – Reale Mutua Torino 78-59 (20-14, 17-15, 23-19, 18-11)
Flats Service Fortitudo Bologna: Mark Ogden 25 (7/13, 3/7), Pietro Aradori 16 (5/10, 2/7), Deshawn Freeman 15 (7/9, 0/0), Alessandro Morgillo 6 (3/3, 0/0 ), Matteo Fantinelli 4 (2/5, 0/1), Alberto Conti 4 (2/2, 0/4), Alessandro Panni 3 (0/0, 1/5), Luigi Sergio 3 (0/0, 1 /2), Riccardo Bolpin 2 (1/1, 0/0), Marco Giuri 0 (0/1, 0/1), Vitalii Kuznetsov 0 (0/0, 0/0), Lorenzo Bonfiglioli 0 (0/0 , 0/0).
Free throws: 3 / 5 – Rebounds: 41 15 + 26 (Deshawn Freeman 11) – Assists: 22 (Matteo Fantinelli 10)
Reale Mutua Torino: Federico Poser 12 (5/6, 0/0), Niccolo De Vico 10 (2/5, 1/5), Donte Thomas 10 (4/6, 0/3), Luca Vencato 9 (2/4, 1/ 4), Marco Cusin 6 (3/5, 0/1), Simone Pepe 5 (1/2, 1/3), Keondre Kennedy 4 (2/4, 0/3), Matteo Ghirlanda 3 (1/1, 0/1), Matteo Schina 0 (0/1, 0/2), Mauro Davide Marrale 0 (0/0, 0/0), Gianluca Fea 0 (0/0, 0/0)
Free throws: 10 / 18 – Rebounds: 30 9 + 21 (Niccolo De Vico 7) – Assists: 12 (Luca Vencato 6) Turin Basketball Press Office.
Turin Basketball Press Office
Tags: Torino defeated Fortitudo Bologna
