RavennaToday
High voltage challenge al Pala Cattani between two teams competing for i play off. Sunday at 6pm i Blacks will host the General Contractor Jesi, team relaunched in the fight for fourth place and back from three victories in the last four races. Even the Faenza riders, second in the class, are having a great time and will want to extend their streak in front of their fans.
Tickets can be purchased on the Live Ticket circuit or on Sunday from 5pm at the PalaCattani ticket offices.
THE OPPONENT – The General Contractor has obtained a tally of 20 points in 18 games (he has already observed the rest session) having won 6 of the 9 games played at home and 4 times away in 9 meetings and is back from 3 wins in the last 4 games .
Coach Marcello Ghizzinardi’s team is among the formations in the entire Serie B to have one of the greatest offensive potential, being able to count on players capable of deciding matches with their play. Point guard Roberto Marulli, best scorer from Jesi with 14.4 points per game, is an excellent three-point shooter like point guard Massimiliano Ferraro who averages 11.1, without forgetting point guard Daniele Merletto who, in addition to assisting his teammates, has a great offensive vein as demonstrated by the 13.8 average.
Great contribution in attack also comes from the former player Giacomo Filippini, at Raggisolaris in the 2020/21 season, pivot with an excellent shot from outside and from the arc and deadly rebounder, who forms a very interesting pairing with power forward Patrick Gatti under the basket. The Lughese center is averaging 10.7 points and 7.1 rebounds. Playmaker Antonio Valentini and winger Filippo Cicconi Massi make an important contribution off the bench. Guard\wing Nicola Calabrese will make his debut against the Blacks, another ex on duty having played for Raggisolaris from 2019 to 2021, who arrived this week from Ancona, but Simone Rocchi will not be there, who asked the club to terminate the contract.
The Jesi roster is completed by the under Alex Ginesi (point guard born in 2003), the play guard Francesco Giulietti (2005), the guards \ wings Josuè Vita (2005) and Giacomo Moretti (2004) and the wing \ pivot Yusupha Conteh (2002) ,
In the first leg the Blacks won 79-68 extending the winning streak against Jesi who sees them ahead 4-1 in the meetings between the two teams.
THE PRE-MATCH – “We face an opponent who is going through an excellent moment of form – highlights coach Luigi Garelli – and the victory against Fabriano showed that Jesi has a great mentality. Now he can aim for fourth place after having had some ups and downs in recent months, even if in any case it was one of the teams to have beaten Florence and which had those points taken away after the Tuscans retired. We arrive at the game not in perfect physical condition, but these situations are part of sport and we have to live with it. Even if we recover some players we will still not be at our best and therefore we will have to think above all of ourselves and have careful management of every aspect of the match such as for example in the expenditure of physical energy, in the distribution of playing time and in the management of fouls. Defense will also be fundamental, because against such a talented opponent on an offensive level you will always have to be attentive without conceding anything. Against the Tigers Romagna it was enough to play a third quarter of high level defense, but with Jesi we will always have to be careful.
The General Contractor has great quality and talent especially in three-point shooting, with players like Merletto, one of the best point guards in Serie B, and Ferraro who are very precise from the arc and above all Marulli who can score from any position if he has a good day . Then there are Filippini, who we know very well, Gatti, an under with already a lot of experience, and Cicconi Massi who know how to be decisive in attack and rebounding.
In recent days Jesi has changed the roster and with the arrival of Calabrese in Rocchi’s place acquiring a better balance between starters and bench, because now he will have a change of a small forward and a ductile player who can be used from outside and also from power forward, but above all she strengthened herself in defence. Rocchi was in fact very dangerous in attack, but not very incisive in the defensive phase. I think Calabrese will be very motivated, because he will be making his debut and he comes from his experience in Ancona where he didn’t play much”.
