Ragusa Virtus Ragusa
74
Italservice Loreto
62
: Brown 10, Piscetta 2, Epifani 3, Cioppa 3, Simon 7, Tumino ne, Vavoli 12, Sorrentino 8, Gaetano 24, Mirabella ne, Calvi ne, Ianelli 5. All.: Recupido
LORETO: Rupil 6, Lovisotto 12, Battisti, Cipriani, Maruca 13, Tombari ne, Tognacci 6, Broglia 6, Martinez 10, Casoni 9. All. Foglietti
Partials: 17-14; 39-35; 56-47; 74-62.
Notes – Free throws: Ragusa 8/13, Loreto 7/15. Three-pointers: Ragusa 6/23, Loreto 5/18. Two-point shots: Ragusa 24/46, Loreto 20/48.
Game 1 of the promotion play-off final to access the next National Serie B took place, and Virtus Ragusa earned the 1-0 with the attached match point. At the PalaPadua in Ragusa the match, as predicted, saw the two teams start the match a little tense in attack, especially Italservice who reached 5 points with Casoni’s triple after four minutes of play. The first yellow and blue advantage came at 6-7 with Rupil, before the home team regained control of the match and closed ahead by three points in the 10th minute. However, Loreto broke up, with a 6-0 run entirely by Martinez, who took the lead at 17-20, and then Lovisotto with five points in a row responded to the Sicilian triples for a much more exciting second run. The two teams respond basket after basket until Marcus Brown arrives in the game and shakes him up and regains the lead, 39-35. Virtus seems to have more when they return from the changing rooms, they try several times in the first minutes of the third quarter to make the first real push, but Italservice responds blow for blow with Broglia and Maruca. But then Foglietti’s team stalled, after the 46-45 score scored by Martinez followed by four minutes of zero points scored and in the 30th minute Ragusa was +9. Sorrentino’s triple marks the first double-digit deficit, 59-47, but Loreto’s attack no longer works, with Casoni breaking the deadlock for the visitors only in the third minute of the final quarter. Maruca again with a basket and a triple tries to keep his team at -12, but the best player on the pitch Gaetano takes the team on his shoulders and scores the last six points (to reach the final 24 points) for 74-62.
Third defeat in a row for the Pesaro team, who gave up the first match point of the series to Ragusa due to bad shooting percentages (25/66 for 38%) and free throws (7/15, 47%), and to Casoni’s only 9 points resulting from a terrible evening, 3/13. Sunday evening at 8.30 pm race 2 at the Pala MegaBox, with the aim of returning to victory and booking the ticket to return to Sicily and attempt the feat. The goal is still there, still distant from those two victories.
Leonardo Selvatici
