RUVO DI PUGLIA. The Gulf still fails to capture the PalaColombo in Ruvo di Puglia. Game 2 of the playoff quarter-finals – on the evening of Tuesday 7 May – ends at 82-64 after a match in which the yellow-blues never really worried the locals.
Shock start
Ready to go and Tecnoswitch immediately shows that they have not digested the defeat in game 1 suffered on Sunday well at all: the aggressiveness of coach Rajola’s players leads them to dominate the first moments of the match and above all leads coach Damiano Cagnazzo’s yellow-blue team to make repeated mistakes , granting bloody balls to opponents. After the first two points scored by Lautaro Berra, in fact, Toniato makes an impact and the usual Jackson plays the charge, quickly finding Ruvo again at 15-5. A score that remains unchanged until 6’46” when Venucci tries to shake him by unblocking the Gulf. All in vain, however, in the first quarter, which ended with a score of 20-12 in favor of the locals and which saw Piombino making a lot of mistakes both from two points and from beyond the arc, suffering the aggressiveness and physicality of Tecnoswitch even on rebounds. The second half starts again with Apulian traction with Leggio immediately scoring the 22-12. But this time the response from the Gulf was not long in coming and Almansi first scored from three points and then closed the gap again from the line bringing Solbat to 22-16. The pride of the Gulf, however, is slow to really ignite: Ruvo extends again and only to 30-16 for the home team, Piccone’s triple and Almansi’s dunk mark a counter-break from 0-5 which shakes the spirits on the pitch . The timeout was called immediately by Ruvo’s bench and the home team once again attempted to extend the lead with Eliantonio and Toniato leading the team to 38-23, but the inextinguishable Mattia Venucci replied to them again: the Gulf captain scored 12 points in a row and manages to keep Piombino afloat despite an abysmal gap in scoring percentages (Ruvo shoots with 60%, the Gulf with 36%). The first half of the game thus ends at 46-38.
It doesn’t change the story
Upon returning from the changing rooms, Tecnoswitch immediately stepped on the accelerator: two triples from Leggio and Jackson followed by Galmarini’s basket broke the balance in just a minute and a half and brought Ruvo to +16 (54-38), realizing the maximum advantage until at that moment. The rest of the third quarter thus remains in the hands of the home team, also because Piombino no longer seems to find the way to the basket: in 6 and a half minutes the Gulf does not score more than 5 points, then at the end of the third period the former Eliantonio and then Jacskon again punish the yellow-blues bringing the result to +20 ten minutes from the end (68-48). The match effectively ends here: in a PalaColombo in delirium the Gulf still tries to shorten the distance even with Azzaro at -14, but the gap with which the last quarter began is too much to be able to reopen the match which it ends at 82-64. The Gulf can only lick their wounds in view of Game 3, which is scheduled Friday 10 May at 8.30 pm at PalaTenda. Where everything will have to be played out.
The scoreboard
RUVO DI PUGLIA: Galmarini 8, Traini 1, Jackson 15, Ghersetti 7, Toniato 17, Contento 2, Eliantonio 7, Granieri, Deri 5, Leggio 20, Boev. All. Rajola.
GULF PIOMBINO: Azzaro 4, Berra 13, Piccone 5, Venucci 12, Turel 12, D’Antonio ne, Almansi 8, De Zardo 5, Longo 4, Cappelletti, Okiljevic 1. Coach Cagnazzo.
REFEREES: Settepanella (from Roseto degli Abruzzi) and Scaramellini (from Colli al Metauro)
NOTE: Partial scores: 20-12, 46-38, 68-48.
