High pace at the start of the game. Milan takes the lead in terms of precision and tries to escape already in the middle of the quarter (15-8). It seems like a challenge between snipers in white shirts and snipers in black shirts: Milan actually shoots 80% from beyond the arc and Tortona suffers from the Lombards’ precision (24-15 ninety seconds from the first siren). Olimpia scores again, the boys coached by coach Catalani rise to twenty-six, trailing the Piedmontese by eleven at the end of the period.
The streak of achievements of the two teams does not stop and they start at full speed even in the second half. The gap is important, Tortona is unable to return, but neither is Milan able to distance themselves further from the top ten. Badalau tries with a triple to make it 37-23: Ansaloni calls time. Tortona fails to stop Olimpia’s momentum, Badalau is the absolute protagonist and the scoreboard is bright at 46-25. Second time out for Ansaloni.
Tortona wakes up: partial 1-8 and mandatory time out for Catalani’s bench at 47-33. The great moment of the Piedmontese continues as they raise the wall in defense, conceding only points from set play to Milan. The effort involves a high number of fouls committed by Tortona which allows the Lombards to breathe and reach fifty-three. Diodati’s triple closed the first half, setting the score at 53-40.
Tortona scores the first basket when operations resume, but Milan still dictates the law on the parquet of the Estra Forum in Chiusi (61-42 after three minutes of play). Badalau rises to sixteen in his personal tally, Tortona clings to the usual Baldi and Errica (12 and 10 points respectively) and Diodati (8 points with 67% from three). At the halfway point Allianz leads 64-49 producing maximum effort but Milan responds to the Piedmontese’s offensives. Tortona, penalized by poor precision on the line (45%), finds the minus twelve basket with Conte (11 points). Catalani calls time.
The end of the quarter still smiled on Olimpia, capable of finding solutions with the ball and lethal in the scoring phase (76-60). Fourth quarter stingy with points at the start, with the news of Suigo’s exclusion for fouls. Tortona advances by a few points by taking advantage of the laps in the line, but Milan shows more attention and keeps the gap close to twenty points. Garavaglia launched on the counterattack and nails it and puts a serious threat on the Scudetto for Olimpia.
Tortona calls time at 85-64 six minutes from the fourth siren. In the final part there is space only for the statistical update. Milan begins to sew the championship on its chest, taking a lead of 93-69 with Lonati’s dunk. Tortona proudly does not raise the white flag and scores the last basket of the tournament, but Milan wins with great merit 95-82 and becomes Italian champion of the category.
EA7 Emporio Armani Olimpia Milano-Allianz Derthona Basket 95-82 (26-15, 27-25, 23-20, 19-22)
Milan: Alberti, Casella 5 (1/5, 1/2), Miccoli 7 (1/4, 1/4), Karem 2 (0/0, 0/0), Toffanin 2 (1/1 from two), Suigo 11 (3/3, 1/2), Lonati 14 (3/5, 1/7), Garavaglia 15 (4/5, 0/3), Badalau 18 (3/9, 3/4), Van Elswyk 6 (3/4, 0/1), Zampieri, Marcucci 15 (4/5, 2/2) All. Catalani
Tortona: Baldi 15 (1/7, 4/10), Bresciani, Albertinazzi, Farias 1 (0/3 from two), Tambwe 2 (1/5, 0/1), Errica 18 (4/6, 3/4 ), Korlatovic (0/1 from two), Diodati 10 (2/4, 2/6), Bellinaso 3 (1/1 from three), Moro, Conte 14 (2/4, 3/9), Josovic 19 ( 6/10, 0/3) All. Ansaloni
Referees: Miniati, Attard M., Cassina
Source: Fip
