Brindisi, Frank Vitucci recriminates on percentages
“We missed shots that were constructed quite well.”
After two consecutive photo-finish victories between league and Europe Cup, comes the defeat for Happy Casa Brindisi that falls at PalaBigi in Reggio Emilia with the score of 92-78. A difficult match in which the good scoring streak of the hosts prevailed, returning to success after five knockouts in a row rewarded by a very accurate night on the shoot for the first home win of the season.
The classic starting quintet for Happy Casa consists of Bowman-Reed-Burnell-Mezzanotte-Perkins. Captain Burnell immediately bites on defense propitiating two recoveries in the first minutes of the game and Mezzanotte comes ready with the house specialties: dunk and three-point shot for 8 consecutive points (14-13 at 5′). The offenses immediately get into rhythm resulting in a pyrotechnic 27-all first quarter. The first 8-0 break of the game is in favor of Reggiana, which is up 37-32 at the 14′ minute. The Brindisi reaction starts with Bruno Mascolo tightening up on defense and allowing his team to run in the open court. The end of the first half sees the hosts ahead 52-43 thanks to the excellent scoring streak of Michele Vitali
When he comes back from the locker room it is always the Italian who finds the basket with continuity, and Reggio reaches the maximum lead of +16 (71-55) while Brindisi tries to cling on Perkins’ shoulders, struggling a lot in offense. Bowman suddenly lights up with 7 consecutive points, but the mountain to climb is too steep. Reggio starts running again and never looks back in the last quarter.
These are the statements, collected by the official website of Happy Casa, by Frank Vitucci, coach of the Apulian team, in the postgame: “Surely Reggio won with merit a very pushed game offensively to which only in the first part we responded adequately. We had to do better but we did not succeed, in the second half we no longer took control and we were always forced to chase. Also today the percentages penalized us by missing shots built quite well despite taking eleven more conclusions than our opponents.”
