It was illusory, the first – substantial – advantage for the New Flying Balls: once reached, the LUX Chieti manages to stretch and bring home two important points with a view to salvation. To the PalaTricalle ends 95-66, which in any case has no impact on the race for the playouts: the defeat of CJ Taranto, against Andrea Costa Imola, causes the Apulians to be relegated with four days to spare. Now the ball passes to Ozzano, left penultimate alone with 18 points and looking for the best position to avoid complicating the path in the probable post-season.
Coach Conti opts for a starting five composed of Bechi in low notch, with Abega, Cortese, Bastone And Filipinos.
Great start for Ozzano, who closes the basket in Chieti for the first three minutes: to the perfection of the defense, the attack responds more than present, going first 8-0 and then 12-4. Cortese’s open-handed dunk is a combo of power and precision, but without intimidating the Abruzzo team who recover coach Conti’s team at 17-17. The captain of the New Flying Balls confirms himself as “very hot” with the triple that sends him ahead at 20-17: together with Filippini he holds his own against the home team’s best scorer, Ciribeni, in double figures after just 8′. Chieti’s first advantage comes at the hands of Maggio (22-20), Berra takes care of extending it (25-20): Ozzano gets into difficulty right at the end and will have to postpone the first comeback until the second quarter.
Ciribeni extends the home run to 10-0 (27-20), Myers blocks the guest’s deficit, but Chieti’s philosophy is clear: from three (5/12) and free throws (6/7) the home team builds the advantage, because he struggles quite a bit inside the area (4/11). Little by little, Ozzano returns to the game, and Berra’s triple – valid for 36-32 – does not slow down the red and white pace. He forces a time-out to be called, instead, Lips’ “bomb” (39-34) with 2’30” to go, within which little or nothing happens. Chieti closes at 43-36, coach Conti’s team has the “only” demerit of sinning under the basket with all the other statistics in their favor.
The second half opens in spectacular fashion, after less than three minutes the score is already 8-6. The home team held on to their ten-point lead, accelerating as the minutes progressed. Maggio’s basket “from his home” is, in advance, the point of the match, when the siren closes the third quarter: Chieti sets the partial score of 29-13 on the 72-49 total. As usual, the red and white’s Achilles’ heel are the attempts from outside the area, where the Abruzzo team boast a 12/29 compared to the modest 4/15 of the Emilian team.
Cortese and Filippini, the best scorers, stop at 10 and 15; on the other hand, Ciribeni – in 14 shots distributed between inside the area, outside the area and from the charity line – only missed one. In the last quarter, the guests raise the white flag, setting their sights ahead for the match against Andrea Costa, scheduled for Saturday 30 March, at the PalaArti Grafiche Reggiani, at 8.30pm.
Top scorers: Ciribeni, 24 points
SCORESHEET
LUX Chieti vs Logimatic Group Ozzano 95-66 (25-20; 43-36; 72-49)
LUX Chieti: Cocco, Di Iorio, Masciopinto, Lips 17, Reale 6, Nwokoye 4, Berra 12, Maggio 11, Cena 13, Febbo, Ciribeni 24, Paesano 8. Coach: Fantini
Logimatic Group Ozzano: Myers 5, Bechi 9, Bastone 12, Zambianchi ne, Martini 2, Terzi, Filippini 15, Cortese 10, Balducci 6, Piazza 1, Abega 6. Coach: Conti
Referees: Lanciotti and Paglialunga
Note: 1Q 25-20; 2Q 18-16; 3Q 29-13; 4Q 23-17
