Evidently Tortona is the ideal adversary, because Banco di Sardegna plays a great game conquering a field that has so far been unbeaten: 82-79 for the Sassari team. A victory that puts Bucchi's biancoblù back in the running for the Final 8 of the Italian Cup. The performance of Dinamo was really solid , who also had to deal with the fouls of the big men Stephens and Diop but with a choral performance they were able to overcome all the difficult moments.
Tortona is dragged along by Daum (10-5 in the 4th minute) who also stops Stephens. The long biancoblù reacts with three consecutive baskets and then Kruslin for the first pass: 12-13 in the 5th minute. Coach Bucchi changes the whole quintet within the first quarter, the most ready is Dowe who with 5 points digs the small furrow of the first quarter: +5 for Sassari, 16-21 . Dinamo also reaches +7 at the beginning of the second quarter who play very calmly and have Dowe lethal when attacking the center area.
Tortona stays in the slipstream only thanks to the huge gap in free throws: he beats 15, scoring 13, while the biancoblù never made it to the line after 20 minutes. So Tortona recovers and overtakes with a break of 8-0: 38-35 in the 19th minute. Robinson's triple and yet another leap from Dowe restore sporting justice: 38-40.
Sassari got off to a good start after the break, with Robinson scoring 5 points, then there were two free kicks by Bendzius on an unsportsmanlike kick by Macura for the maximum advantage: 38-47 in the 22nd minute. Dinamo stays ahead, however, with a couple of impromptu triples Tortona approaches and then hooks up and overtakes with the usual free throws: 57-56 in the 28th minute with a 12-2 run. An offensive rebound from Diop puts Banco back forward.
In the last quarter, the triples by Radosevic and Harper bring Tortona over (71-69 in the 35th minute) while Stephens and Diop are on the bench with 4 fouls.
Harper's triple of +4 is canceled by the bomb with a free foul by Bendzius. Jones and Robinson score from the line, Macura makes only one and Sassari has +3 at 13 seconds, then Tortona misses three shots for extra time.
The scoreboard
Bertram Yachts Tortona: Christon 14 Mortellaro ne, Candi 2 Tavernelli ne, Filloy 8 Severini 11 Harper 14 Daum 10 Cain 4 Radosevic 8 Macura 8 Filoni ne. All. Ramondino.
Banco di Sardegna Sassari: Jones 7 Robinson 16 Dowe 13 Kruslin 12 Gandini ne, Devecchi, Treier 8 Chessa, Bendzius 12 Gentile 2 Diop 4 Stephens 8 All. Bucchi.
