With tooth and nail, Cutugno’s team snatches the pass to the semi-finals, where they will face Treviso, killer of Mantua, winning, after a real battle, also game two on the Bolzano pitch; extra time was needed to break the strenuous resistance of the South Tyroleans who certainly emerge from this challenge with their heads held high and who, if they had won today’s match, would have stolen absolutely nothing, even if the success of the giraffes is equally legitimate. Bcc still without Thiam, on the scoresheet but unusable, and starting with the usual quintet of the last few weeks (Attura, Melchiori, Marangoni, Cerino and Premasunac) while Sacchi responds with Rainis, Vella, Schwienbacher, Missanelli and Kotnis; good start for Autosped who, riding Premasunac, goes to +8 (10-2) but the illusion is short-lived because the home team starts to hurt from the arc and from below, impacting already at the first siren (14-14) . Second half to forget for the Giraffes, in difficulty on both sides of the pitch, while on the other side Bolzano gains confidence and with 3 consecutive triples tries to escape at +11 (25-14); a first attempt at the guest’s recovery (25-31) is stopped by a new internal extension (37-27 at 18′) but the -7 (30-37) with which the Castenovesi go to the long break is an acceptable gap all in all given the ‘trend of the second 10′. And in fact when the game resumed after the break, Bcc quickly got back on track, mending the gap and finding the lead (40- 39); match that continues, for a few minutes, with the two teams alternating in command until the 51-49 away score in the 30th minute which postpones any decision to the final quarter. The quarter opens again with alternating advantages, on one side and the other, until the middle of the quarter when the hosts seem to be able to place the winning point, hoisting themselves up to +5 (61-56) with 4 minutes to go; However, the reaction of the giraffes was punctual and made it 61-61 at minute 38, making the final 2 minutes a sort of mini overtime. 1 minute before the siren, Bcb finds the new lead but Premasunac, after an error on both sides, scores the equalizer with 3 seconds left to go, postponing any decision to extra time.
A rather lucky triple by Schwienbacher earned the final internal advantage (66-65) followed by a 6-0 external victory which seemed to be able to launch the breakaway for the Castelnovesi (71-66 in the 43rd minute); Bolzano, however, has no intention of resigning itself to defeat and tries to respond every time, but the Bcc manages to strenuously defend the small margin and Kotnis’ prayer from midfield on the siren finds no allies high up and the giraffes can thus celebrate the narrow escape danger together with the handful of fans who did not miss the call this evening too, taking on a very long trip to support their girls. Even this evening the Autosped performance was not very brilliant, with the team experiencing ups and downs, often even within the same partial, struggling, in those situations, both to build effective game patterns and to contain the incursions of the opponents; the positive note was the tenacity and character that our team showed in moments of greatest difficulty, always remaining attached to the match even when the situation seemed to worsen. In view of the next round, we will certainly need to do better and raise the level of play both in the offensive phase and in our own half of the pitch but, for the moment, let’s enjoy this positive result, which also came in the presence of a team that did a lot in both matches well, creating serious problems for the people of Castelnuovo. For Autosped it is the third consecutive participation in the playoff semi-finals, the fifth in total, undoubtedly a significant achievement. After a weekend of well-deserved rest, necessary to recharge the batteries, the BCC will throw itself body and soul into preparing for the next duel against Treviso, trying to achieve, for the first time in its history, the final promotion, which it has missed in all the others. occasions.
