MEDOLLA – June has always been the month of verdicts when it comes to sport: the month in which conclusions are drawn after 10 months of hard work. Where more than a month are the minutes, the moments that precede a cut-off, the frames of a triple shot when the referee is hitting the fifth blow on the chest and has inflated his lungs to blow the shot clock to decide whether that evening you will enter the right part of the story or if it will be yet another disappointment, yet another fall at the best time. Game 3, the “beautiful” one, is played in Mascarino, between Peperoncino and Medolla, after the field factor was respected in the first two matches. The arena, needless to say, is already sold out 20 minutes before the starting whistle and the fans are forced to crowd behind the baskets.
The hosts are forced to give up Stojkov, the team’s star, injured in game 2, while Medolla arrives at full strength in the last ball. Ready-go comes Nannetti’s 2+1 which gives the Giallorossi the first (and it will be one of the very few) advantage of the match, as Barbieri scores the equalizer with his hands still smeared with talcum powder. Medolla attempts a mini-stretch at 3-10, but Benfenati’s abundance under the basket allows Peperoncino to stay in contact and make it 8-0. The guests put their heads forward and closed the first half +1, thanks to 8 points from “Agent Zero” Mattioli, unstoppable for the Bolognese wingers. Coach Duca starts the second quarter with Di Curzio and Fricatel, who immediately scored two Ferrero Rochers for two easy points from Mattioli and Barbieri’s triple in transition, and it was already an escape attempt at 17-25 in the 12th minute. Fricatel himself is the author of an important personal 5-0 in the middle of the quarter, the result of a triple and a step and shot extorted by the Mattioli house servers. Peperoncino tries to hold on to the left-handed talent of Bardasi but Medolla closes at the interval ahead by 5 at 33-38 thanks to two cryogenic bombs from Guagliumi. Halfway through the third quarter the gap between the teams is almost unchanged, 40-46 at 25′. But from here on out Medolla will always have the ball in the game and the three triples from Moussijd, Mattioli and Di Curzio respectively make Medolla escape even at +15 (44-59 at 29′).
The PalaPeppers is now completely Medollese and the decibels easily pass 100 when Duca Senior commands the standing ovation while waiting for the start of the last quarter. Maximum advantage 46-64 Medolla after 1 minute of play but the game is still very long and in fact Peperoncino scores an 8-0 partial with Vinci’s triple and gets back on track at 54-64 with 7′ to go. Luppi (author of a sensational match) interrupts his fast with a bomb with the specific weight of tungsten. Brochetto’s triple for the Bolognese raises some concerns as it brings the gap back under double figures (61-68 with 4′ to play). Guagliumi puts in the usual yet another heavy bomb of his season but Vinci responds immediately with a support in the middle of the mangroves. Mattioli spends the fifth foul to send Nannetti to the line who makes it 1/2, 64-71 with 130 seconds to play, still too many to sharpen the scissors of the retina cut. Peperoncino snatches the rebound of the second free throw and Secchiaroli is fouled, another 1/2 from the line and the gap is now reduced to just 6 points. We go the other way and as in the best fairy tales comes the decisive play from the man you don’t expect. Peperoncino’s defense seems to agree to leave a triple to Moussijd, who however does not tremble, throws the rigatoni into the pot, lets it boil for 9 minutes on a high flame, tastes it, gives the OK and sets the table for the big party. Game, set and match.
68-78 reads the scoreboard at the siren, Medolla brings 4 players in double figures but also owes a lot, a lot to the Luppi-Baccarani-Barbieri long package (The Revenant, forty-one candles in September) capable of never going down against the Bolognese of equal role , which physically would have nothing to envy of a Capoeira master class. Medolla achieved a feat that had not been seen in these parts since 2004, when Coach Giliberti’s team achieved a historic double promotion from the 1st Division to Serie D. A jump in category that wasn’t even achieved by the Medolla of the Galacticos in 2016-17, but which this perfectly orchestrated and amalgamated team managed, a 0 km team, with two 2004 class from the Medollese academy who achieved decisive results in the hottest moment of the Final. It is the triumph of a team that started the season without knowing exactly what its size was within the championship (just having saved itself in the playouts the year before), but which found itself, step by step, believing in an unexpected dream. . She remained at the top of the rankings throughout the season, dragged along by Mattioli, who proved to be a real crack in the category. The most beautiful snapshot to take home on a festive evening is the vigorous embrace between fans and players, between the Fricatels, father and son, between the Duca twins, between those who signed with a basket and those who instead it simply beat a drum incessantly, among those who have become passionate about this sport perhaps since this year and those who have always loved it.
Coach Duke at the end of the game: “I have some delightful boys. In September it was a new group to mix then, month after month, we found a total alchemy. We began to dream, immediately about the playoffs, then the first round, the semi-final, and finally the final. That’s how it is It really happened. I want to thank all the staff members who accompanied us on this journey, all the people who supported us during the home games and away games. Finally I want to thank all the players, who are the heart of this dream. Don’t wake us from this dream.”
SCORESHEET CHILI BASKETBALL – PT MEDOLLA 68-78 (17-18; 16-20; 13-23; 22-17)
CHILI PEPPER: Bardasi 16, Vinci 10, Ballandi, Giunchedi 10, Tosarelli 3, Tolomelli 7, Balducci, Solmi, Brochetto 7, Secchiaroli 1, Benfenati 7, Nannetti 7. Coach Brochetto.
PT MEDOLLA: Mattioli 15, Tommasino ne, Moussjid 10, Ziosi ne, Bernardi ne, Fricatel 6, Di Curzio 3, Barbieri 8, Manfredini ne, Luppi 17, Guagliumi 15, Baccarani 4.
