A victory with a final thrill that is gained Unahotels Reggio Emilia within the friendly walls of the PalaBigi, to the detriment of one Umana Reyer Venice who remained silent and took the Reggio Emilia baskets impassively until the thirtieth minute. Reggio Emilia leads from the start of the match, ends the first half ahead by 13 and reaches +22 during the third quarter, led by Smith’s baskets and Black’s solidity. Venezia begins to wake up at the end of the third period and, thanks to baskets from Tucker and Spissu, it gets back up to -5 (67-62) halfway through the last quarter, with Reggio suffering from the physicality of its opponents and missing the attempted shots. Smith (18 points) and Chillo, MVP of the match to popular acclaim with 16 points, 6 rebounds captured and 6/10 shooting, brought calm to the Reggio attack, closing the contest on the 78-66 the final. A Tucker with 15 points and 5 fouls isn’t enough for Reyer Venezia.
Scoreboards
Unahotels Reggio Emilia: Weber 5, Bonaretti ne, Cipolla ne, Galloway 5, Faye 7, Smith 18, Uglietti 2, Atkins 8, Black 10, Vitali 5, Grant 2, Chillo 16.
Umana Reyer Venezia: Spissu 12, Heidegger 7, Casarin 2, De Nicolao 2, Janelidze ne, Kabengele 2, Parks 6, Brooks, Simms 10, Wiltjer 7, Tucker 15, Tessitori 3.
First quarter (18-16): the hosts take the field with Weber, Vitali, Galloway, Chillo and Faye; the guests respond with Spissu, Casarin, Tucker, Simms and Kabengele. Reggio starts off strong, immediately scoring a basket on an attacking rebound by Chillo and and-1 converted by Vitali following a foul by Spissu, 5-0 for the red and whites. Venezia started with the handbrake on, immediately losing two balls, but Simms responded to the Reggio players’ baskets with a triple opened from the tip. Two-way games Vitali-Chillo and Galloway-Faye, scoreboard reading 9-3 after just 3 minutes of play. Spahija was immediately forced into a timeout and Casarin broke the deadlock with the basket on the break after the goal kick. Excellent ball movement for Venezia which yields two more points on Kabengele’s dunk thanks to Tucker’s alley-oop. Reggio Emilia’s attack which, after an excellent start, stopped due to many shooting errors. Tucker unscrews himself from the dribble on Uglietti and scores in his face, extending the visitors’ lead to 6-0. Score that says 9 equals 3 minutes left in the period. Spissu doesn’t find the guest’s advantage with the triple from the corner, then Black flies to the basket off the dribble and finds the basket and the foul by Kabengele. Black doesn’t stop and stops Kabengele in defence, but from the goal kick Wiltjer scores a triple at the end of the first Venetian lead. Jamar Smith unleashed, disorientates Heidegger from the dribble and scores in his face, bringing Reggio back ahead, then steals the ball from Heidegger himself and goes to the line for 1/2. 14-12 with two minutes to go. 2/2 from the line by DeNicolao but Smith responds immediately with the layup, Chillo follows him with the free throw to make it 17-14. Tessitori also with 2/2 from the line, Weber responds with the free throw which closes the first quarter at 18-16. For Reggio 5 points each for Chillo and Smith, for Venezia 3 each for Wiltjer and Simms.
Second quarter (41-27): nothing to be done for the three-pointers by Wiltjer and Smith, the first points of the quarter came from the line with Tessitori. Black responds by playing it with his back to the basket against Tessitori and from the line with 2/2, 22-17 after 2 and a half minutes. Parks shows off his athletic abilities by scoring in the center of the area against Weber, but Atkins immediately responds with the fadeaway jumper. Galloway misses the coach’s free throw and Faye combines a 1/2 for Reggio’s +6. Tucker is in the evening and proves it by finding an impressive triple from a goal kick and at the end of the shot clock, but Atkins and Faye find each other for a 4-0 which brings the hosts to 29-22 and forces Spahija to timeout. Uglietti from the bench gives a free throw to Spissu, then Parks goes on his own and goes to the line on the (third) foul by Faye, however, 0/2 for the American winger, while Galloway’s bomb which brings Reggio to the maximum does not fail +9. Smith doesn’t give up either, beating Brooks and Kabengele off the dribble and making it 37-23 two minutes from the end. Spissu goes to the line and scores both free throws, Atkins responds with the fadeaway from the post, but Spissu scores. it’s on and he also makes the fadeaway from the dribble, forcing Priftis to call a timeout. Excellent penetrating basket by Galloway, then Weber recovers the ball from Spissu, but Vitali’s shot from the corner at the end doesn’t go and so the teams go down to the locker rooms on the dribble. score of 41-27 in favor of the hosts. For the red and whites 10 points from Smith, for the granata 5 each for Tucker and Spissu.
Third quarter (64-47): the second half of the match resumes with baskets by Weber, in a mid-range jumper, and by Spissu, left free by the Reggio defense outside the three-point line. Chillo makes himself useful again by putting in the shot from the low post, then Reggio recovers the ball following Faye’s block on Kabengele and goes to the basket again with the same Faye. 47-32 with 8 minutes left. Tucker flies higher than the lights of the PalaBigi for the two-handed reverse dunk, but the ball escapes him, with Venezia still finding the rebound in attack and Wiltjer’s basket after the screwball on Galloway. Chillo fakes the shot and feeds Wiltjer’s defensive error by scoring the floater from the center of the area. Another excellent defensive sequence from Reggio, who prevents Venezia from shooting and scores from long range on the other side again with Chillo. Spissu’s shots no longer enter, Reggio continues to find good solutions, sending Black to the line after Heidegger’s foul. 2/2 of the big man from Reggio Emilia and Spahija is forced to call timeout at -20 (54-34) of his. Spissu’s shot from the corner doesn’t hit the mark, but in the midst of the rebound Spissu himself finds the ball and puts in the floater from the mid-corner. Grant goes to the line and converts both free throws, but then sends Heidegger to the charity line, who doesn’t miss. Atkins flies a rebound in attack and restores the +20. Heidegger is still on the line, but Uglietti and Smith continue to strike and bring Reggio up 22 with three minutes to go. Parks shows off his levers by crushing the 62-42, but Black goes to the line and brings Reggio to 64. Heidegger tries to shock his team with a bomb on DeNicolao’s excellent assist, Parks follows him to score the inbound basket on an assist from Denik himself, thus scoring the 64-47 which closes the third half of the game.
Fourth quarter: Tucker scores a basket of enormous importance in penetration on Faye, also finding the foul of the Senegalese big man and converting the additional free throw. Simms combined for a personal 5-0, bringing Venezia back to -9 (64-55) and forcing Priftis to call a timeout to stop his team’s defensive hemorrhaging. Weber becomes the protagonist and, flying off the dribble, scores the first two of the second half, but Simms and Tucker don’t stop, bringing Venezia back up -5 at 66-61 with 6 minutes to go. Reggio suffers from the low quintet (Brooks and Simms from 5) and the physicality put on the field by the opponents and is unable to find good conclusions, with only two points scored in the first 5 minutes of the third quarter. Venezia fails to connect twice, first with DeNicolao and then with Parks who misses an easy support on the counterattack, then Smith interrupts Reggio Emilia’s scoring effort with a 2/2 from the line, bringing the home team back to +7. Parks loses the ball but then makes up for it by defending as best he can on a (reviewable) floating shot by Weber, launching the basket on Spissu’s counterattack. The Venetian defense loses Chillo, who on an assist from Smith brings Reggio to +7 with support on the glass. 4-0 scored by Jamar Smith who puts Reggio ahead by 11 points at 74-63 with just over two minutes to go. The triples from Casarin and Spissu miss the target, so Casarin himself sends Chillo to the line for free throws to make it +13 with 2′ to go. Tucker earns Faye’s (fifth) foul, but hits only one target. The next trip to the line goes only worse, with a 0/2 that puts the ball back in Reggio Emilia’s hands at 76-64. Lost ball by Reggio Emilia, but there are only 39 seconds left on the clock. Tucker continues to hit Chillo, scoring with a foul, but continues to miss free throws. Vitali makes no mistake and sends the final credits to the game with a score of 78-66.
THE PREVIEW
It’s already time for Game 3 of the playoff quarterfinals and, therefore, the series between Unahotels Reggio Emilia And Umana Reyer Venice moves within the walls of the PalaBigi in the Emilian province. After a shocking victory (with final thrill) obtained in game 1 by the guests led by 25 points from Jamar Smith and a game 2 which was always spectacular but in long stretches dominated by the Venetians thanks to the super performance of Marco Spissu (18 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assist), this evening it’s up to Pallacanestro Reggiana to make the most of the field factor to try to reach match point and therefore have the possibility of closing the contest on Saturday always within friendly walls. Reyer, on the contrary, will have to try to replicate the performance shown in game 2 to regain the field factor and therefore give herself the opportunity to play the possible game 5, decisive for the passage of the round, within the friendly walls of the PalaTaliercio.
Tap-off which will be raised at 8pm by referees Rossi, Bartoli and Quarta, the match will be visible on EUROSPORT 1 And Dazn.
Below, from 8pm onwards, it will be possible to read the live text of the meeting.
