At the end of game 2 last Tuesday, the hopes of returning to the PalaColombo in Ruvo di Puglia for a hypothetical game 5 for Fabo Herons Montecatini were slim to none. Yet the flame was kept lit by the combative declarations of president Andrea Luchi first and coach Federico Barsotti, and it flared up after the spectacular victory on Friday evening in the third chapter of the series. Yesterday afternoon, at the end of a game 4 that was very different in terms of the final score and the progress, the miracle occurred.
Because when you manage to bring home the victory with Sgobba sidelined due to injury, Radunic out during the match and Benites out due to fouls in the last two minutes of the match, holding such an opponent to 60 points and Jackson and Contento to 15 overall, talking about a miracle is not at all forced: “To talk about this match you don’t need statistics – begins an exhausted coach Federico Barsotti in front of the notebooks – What happened is something that concerns the willpower, the character and the enormous heart of these guys, if we were lucky in the last few possessions, maybe it’s because we deserved this luck: we were ahead for 125 minutes out of 160 in the series, we were good at always believing in it and maintaining our clarity after game 2, at the end of which. we were really saddened. In the last 48 hours, however, everything has happened to us, this leads me to think that today was a heroic undertaking.”
On an evening in which the attack certainly did not shine (the comparison with game 3 in which Natali and his teammates had shot 52 percent from the field, compared to 35 percent yesterday) was merciless), the pugnacious spirit and a defense were at times moving to keep Fabo upright: “In the second two quarters we shot 2/12 three-pointers with a quality of shots that was often not optimal, it’s clear that it wasn’t our best offensive game, but the boys were really tired, they are not used to having so few rotations but despite this they continued to expend energy on defense until the end: in the last three possessions none of Ruvo’s players’ shots touched the rim and in the final seconds of the match we practically managed not to let anyone shoot our opponents, perfectly sealing our match of determination, character and willpower. I believe that being able to be a talented team and a working team at the same time is a great advantage.”
And on Wednesday in Ruvo di Puglia, in a match-5 that promises to be fiery, both versions of this Fabo will be needed, also because the Tecnoswitch is bent but not yet broken, and from the words of Stefano Rajola, its coach, it already promises a battle: “We are at the ninth match in twenty-one days, we have made a great effort but at this point we want to throw our hearts over the obstacle. We will return to our stadium to play it all out, I am convinced that the Ruvese public will respond presently and will be as warm as never”.
Filippo Palazzoni
