Final Eight Coppa Italia: Reggio Emilia strike, Virtus Bologna knockout. Luca Banchi apologizes

Final Eight Coppa Italia: Reggio Emilia blow, Virtus Bologna knockout. Luca Banchi apologizes

At the Inalpi Arena in Turin, the third quarterfinal of the Final Eight of the Italian Cup ends with the surprise victory of Unahotels Reggio Emilia 81-72 over Virtus Bologna. The Reggiogians now await the winner between Brescia, holder of the trophy, and Napoli.

The V Nere got off to a rocket start in the first quarter even reaching +10 (17-7) but ending it on +5, 20-15. In the second quato Virtus stretched again to +11, 37-26, but here an 8-0 partial lead brought Reggio Emilia in touch on 37-34 at the’long interval.

In the third quarter from the’immediate +8 for the Felsinians it goes to another pro-Reggio Emilia partial, 10-2, then Luca Banchi’s team goes back ahead but without being able to stretch.

Before the last ten minutes the score è of 54-53 and it goes on point to point until 69-68 for the black Vs and here, when there are two minutes left, the game is decided with the partial of 13-3 that seals the match.

For Unahotels 20 points by Langston Galloway and 16 by Mouhamed Faye, for Virtus 20 points and 10 rebounds by Tornike Shengelia and 14 points by Marco Belinelli, the only one to score (a triple) in the fateful last two minutes.

Here are Luca Banchi’s statements at the end of the game: 

“I begin by making the customary congratulations to the opponents who were able to play a better game than we did. They had more cohesion and humility; I take responsibility for such a performance in such an important match. We had a duty to show a different face and I think it is right that I take responsibility for such a performance in front of the owners, managers and fans. We were not able to repay them with a performance worthy of a team that comes here and plays with the’humilityà and determination they needed”.

“We built a lead that we squandered with many mistakes that put the opponents in confidence. And’ tension grew, the game became difficult to manage and we are the architects of this performance below these expectations. We apologize for a test that is not è worthy of the support we receive, we need to put our heads down and regain the energy and characteristics of a team that has to fight. The lack of humility è seen today è among the things that hurt me most. One cannotò talk about tiredness becauseè we have a large team that must allow us to compete in every game. Nervous energy has to be found, which is necessary to face these kinds of matches".