A heroic Dinamo team lost after two overtimes in Tortona: 118-113. The defeat was weighed down by a terrible first half (-20) as well as the referee's sluggishness, which allowed 52 free throws to the home team compared to 19 for the white-and-blues. All three big men (McGlynn, Thomas, and the excellent Vincini) were fouled out with five fouls, as was Visconti. What's more painful is the serious knee injury suffered by Marshall, one of the key players in the comeback along with Buie: Pecchia fell on top of him.
Report - Dinamo got off to a slow start on defense and especially on rebounds, with their big men trailing center Olejniczak and forward Gorham: 21-12 at the 7th minute and 27-15 at the end of the quarter. The defense (including their zone defense) failed to even out the rebounding battle: Tortona grabbed eight offensive rebounds, as did Banco, who were down 19 before the 47-32 halftime lead. Offensively, with the exception of Johnson (11 points at halftime), struggled too. Another telling statistic: Tortona shot 18-of-20 free throws, while the white-blues only went to the line six times.
In the second half, Dinamo is a completely different team, especially because Buie is a completely different team: he scores and sets up his teammates, especially Marshall and Johnson. The zone works, the comeback begins, and the score is 74-all at 34'. Then Pecchia crashes into Marshall, who is stretchered off. Banco manages to go ahead with Johnson and Buie, but the score is tied. In the first overtime, Sassari reaches a three-pointer, but Baldasso responds from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, all the big men are slowly being fouled out. The final lead comes on a three-pointer by Visconti in the second overtime, who then also fouls out. Baldasso and Vital win the game from the free throw line, with Pullen being too selfish.
