Cantù falls to Cremona, Walter De Raffaele: "Won and lost several times"

Aqua S.Bernardo Cantù comes out defeated from the PalaRadi, where the hosts impose themselves by a narrow margin after a comeback in the last quarter: the final result is 89-87 for Vanoli Cremona. Coach De Raffaele confirms the starting quintet seen with Venice. Durham and Sneed score the first two baskets. Balanced start of the game, with Vanoli keeping the lead, but Cantù responds blow by blow. Okeke signs the Canturino overtake, but Veronesi responds with a triple. In the final Grant and Burns try to launch Cremona, but Green scores the 27-25 basket.

Martino Davidi

Ballo brings Acqua S.Bernardo back ahead, but Vanoli stays glued. However, Cremona manages to find a break closed by Casarin’s basket for +7. Sneed shakes Cantù and with nine consecutive points puts Acqua S.Bernardo back in command of the game. The biancoblù go to rest ahead 42-47. Willis immediately scores a triple, but Basile responds by correcting Ballo’s mistake. Sneed scores the +8 triple. Willis and Durham score two triples, bringing one point back between the two teams. Green finds two valuable free throws, making it 65-68 with which the third quarter ends.

Aqua S.Bernardo opens the last period with a blaze by the Sneed-Okeke duo, which is worth the new maximum lead at +11. Vanoli doesn’t give up and gets back to -3. Anigbogu ties the contest. Bortolani breaks the hosts’ partial, but Willis signs the overtaking triple. Veronesi and Willis bring Cremona to +6. Green and Sneed keep Canturini’s hopes alive. With 37 seconds left, Vanoli is ahead by two. Durham misses and Green is fouled, converting all three available free throws. Willis scores and finds the foul, it’s the play that decides the game.

“There is a lot of bitterness after a game played well for large stretches, playing with a lot of diligence – is Walter De Raffaele’s comment -. Beyond the ending, which then could have ended in any way, the game turned on +11, when we gave away three bloody turnovers and Cremona rightly believed in it, taking it away with merit. The game should have been closed at that moment with more cynicism and much more control from many players. unfortunately, instead we struggled to find who could be reliable until the end”.

“It is a shame because it is a game we won and lost several times and then, in the end, Cremona was very good. The last shot could have ended a thousand ways, our goal was Green, but that’s the way it is. We have to roll up our sleeves, take what was positive, hold onto the anger for this missed opportunity and move on”, De Raffaele concludes.