Varese Defeats Trieste; Della Valle Shines, but Controversy Surrounds the Decisive Play

Openjobmetis Varese defeated Pallacanestro Varese 85-84 on the third day of the Serie A basketball season. This marks the Varese team’s second win in three games, their first at home following last week’s victory on the road in Scafati. For the Giuliani, on the other hand, this is their third loss in as many games, and the defeat in Masnago stings particularly hard because it came practically at the buzzer.

In fact, the game was decided just when the possibility of extending it by another five minutes—sending it into overtime—seemed very real: with the score tied at 84–84, just seven-tenths of a second before the buzzer, the referees called a foul on Amedeo Della Valle following a chaotic play, leaving the visitors in disbelief (first and foremost the Giuliani coach, Taccetti) and sending the former Brescia player to the free-throw line. ADV missed the first and third shots, but sinking the second was enough for Varese to secure the victory.

In Trieste, neither Ross’s 25 points and 8 assists nor Jones’s double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds were enough; the latter, incidentally, the three-pointer that tied the game at 84 and had given the Giuliani hope of at least forcing overtime. On the other side, Hale was the leading scorer with 16 points, followed by Duke with 15 and the returning Della Valle with 11.

Varese now has another home game on the horizon, Tuesday at 8 p.m. against Peristeri in the Champions League, before an away league game on Sunday the 18th (4 p.m.) against Trento. Trieste, meanwhile, is set to host Cantù on Sunday, with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m.