Ecodem Alpo Basket toasts to the semi-final: the white and blue conquer the USE Rosa Scotti Empoli court 53-65 and win the quarter-final series 2-0. Great success for Nicola Soave’s team which repeats itself in game 2 and now awaits the winner of Roseto-Selargius in the semi-final, and with the field still in favour. PalaSammontana’s match was very strange: Ecodem scored 22 points in the first quarter, 23 in the fourth quarter and 20 in the second and third combined. Alpo seemed to have the match in their hands until halfway through the second quarter, then the lights went out (5 and a half minutes without scoring) and the blackout continued in the third period (only 7 points scored). Luckily the final half was one-sided, the Veronese defense made its presence felt and there was no more history. The three-point percentage was also good tonight (48%, 10/21) with Turel shooting from beyond the arc with 44% (4/9) and being the top scorer of the evening with 18 points.
The first quarter is balanced even if almost always dominated by the guests: Turel starts with 6 points of the first 10 of his team (2 triples), at half time it is perfect parity (10-10) then Nori with two and Turel with three attempt a mini-escape (10-15). On the other hand, Villarruel is not there and scores 6 consecutive ones which are worth overtaking (16-15), but in the final half Alpo “restores” the +5 with 4 points from Soglia and 3 from captain Rosignoli (triple) for 17-22 at the end of the quarter. The second period begins with a 0-7 white and blue, Empoli misses more than one “penalty” from below, Nori (4 pt) and Soglia take advantage of it to score the +13 (17-30). Nori again confirms the +13 (19-32) but, as mentioned at the beginning, here the Ecodem stops and does not score for 5 and a half minutes: USE Rosa Scotti takes advantage of it and scores a 9-0 which reopens the speech (28-32). The hosts climb back up to -3 with Castellani (31-34) after two penalties this time missed by Soglia, the Empoli crowd makes itself heard and at half-time the scoreboard reads 31-35.
In the third quarter the game gets ugly, Ecodem Alpo Basket still manages to keep the reins of the match even if it commits two 24-second infringements. Empoli believes in it, goes up point by point until overtaking Stoichkova with a triple (42-40), which also scores the red and white +4 at the end of another 9-0 break (44-40). Coach Soave’s team suffers another 5-minute blackout “broken” by the usual Turel (44-42), before Ruffini closes this “anemic” third quarter for the Biancoblu with 7 points scored (46-42). Even the fourth period starts off not well for the Veronese team: Manetti scores the free throws for Tuscany’s greatest lead of the evening (50-44) but just when the inertia seems entirely on the side of Cioni’s team, Frustaci, the MVP of race 1, so far silent. Two consecutive triples from Sofia mean parity (50-50) but above all they give way to the decisive partial of 0-15 which closes the score (50-59). Empoli scores 3 points in 7 and a half minutes, gets everything wrong and is forced to raise the white flag: Alpo regains the double-digit lead with Moriconi from the line (51-61) and can lift his hands from the handlebars, it’s the semi-final !
