There was a phenomenon on the pitch, and he was wearing the Dominican Republic kit. Karl Anthony Towns leads his teammates with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and the Italy of Spissu and Datome goes knocked out on the second day of the World Cup, in Manila, after the success on their debut against Angola.
For the Azzurri, now, an inside-out match against the hosts of the Philippines : Italy will have to win to detach the pass for the next phase.
Yet the challenge, for the national team, had started in the best way, with an initial 12-0 that had put the match downhill. Then the angry reaction of the Dominican and his ace, Towns: the center of the Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the best in the NBA, wakes up and makes his team change pace, bringing them to +16 two minutes and thirty seconds from the end of the game .
In the final, surprisingly, Italy reopened it, reaching up to -3 thanks also to the baskets of Marco Spissu, Italy's top scorer with 17 points with 2 out of 5 from three and 7 out of 7 with free throws. 8 points also for Gigi Datome , who however closes the match with 0 out of 4 from the arc.
The Dominican Republic contains the return of Italy and the final score, 82-87 , is perhaps the fairest result, despite an arbitration strongly contested by the national team, which resulted in the expulsion, before the end of the second quarter, of coach Gianmarco Pozzecco .
(Unioneonline/L.Ne.)
