The 2021/2022 wheelchair basketball championship will be contested by UnipolSai Briantea84 Cantù e Deco Metalferro Amicacci Abruzzo.
This is the verdict arrived at the end of the return matches of the playoff semifinals, which took place on Saturday 2 April. If the outcome of the confrontation between Amicacci and Studio 3A Millennium was almost obvious after race one, the evolution of the semifinal between Briantea84 and Avis S. Stefano, the two protagonists of all the trophies awarded in Italy in the last two years: the Lombards managed a comeback from the passive of 8 points with which they had closed the first leg, a comeback that earned them the ninth Scudetto final consecutive.
In Meda, in a fiery sports hall as usual, the hosts overturned the 8-point knockout suffered in the Marche last week, winning 77 to 58 a match always led in the lead, but only secured in the final against a combative and never tame Review S. Stefano. It takes Briantea a little less than 6 and a half minutes to completely cancel the gap, escaping immediately on 13 to 4 thanks to a sprint start and despite a few too many turnovers. S. Stefano tries to follow the defensive plan of game one, but after some initial blitz, the boys of coach Ceriscioli lose the measures in pressing and constantly open the painted area to the opponent’s cuts.
Some problem of fouls removes continuity on the parquet at the MVP of the first leg, Andrea Giarettiwhile the UnipolSai begins to raise the revs of its engine, deploying the heavy artillery with the four long Sagar, Carossino, De Maggi e Papi against which S. Stefano has no weapons to defend on the half court. The advantage of the reigning Italian champions continues to expand, reaching over 20 points in the middle of the game.
The beginning of the third quarter is perhaps one of the key moments of the match: the Briantea84 returns to the field more relaxed, while S. Stefano accelerates in defense: in almost three minutes the hosts never manage to score and almost never reach the shooting, collecting turnovers. But S. Stefano does not know how to take advantage of it, gnawing at this juncture just three points, the victim of his own insufficient shooting percentages. Cantù thus resumes the reins of the match and extends up to +24 on the eve of a last period which, however, still sees S. Stefano raise his head: the blaze is triggered by the usual Giaretti and the omnipresent Bedzeti, who in an amen to the sound of triples mend the gap up to -14, six points from an ideal draw. But the fifth foul by Giaretti himself, in addition to the surgical precision in shooting by the long canturini (above all an amazing De Maggi with 23 points with 11/16 from the field) seal the final at 77 to 58.
The return semi-final played in Giulianova between the home team was less painful Deco Metalferro Amicacci Abruzzo and it Studio 3A Millennium Basket of Padua. The victory of the Abruzzese in race one of 17 points already made this confrontation almost prohibitive for the guests on the eve, in the second consecutive semifinal as a total outsider compared to the other contenders for the title. Coach Di Giusto’s Amicacci controls for all 40 minutes without ever giving the impression of suffering, despite the absence of a precious element like Gabriel Benvenuto.
Padua tries to cling to the match of pure pride, also thanks to a discovery Boughania from 18 points and 7/12 from the field, but right after the partial of the comers between the first and second quarters – a partial that brings them back to only one possession away after being immediately finished even under 11 – we have the demonstration of how the Deco Metalferro is able to switch off and on at will its intensity switch in the field, dragged as usual by the leader Adolfo Damian Berdun: a partial counter of the hosts from 9 to 0 that extinguishes any residual ambition of the opponents, channeling the remaining part of the match on tracks of absolute tranquility.
The best scorer on the field is Berdun, who spends the first half of the match building his own personal tally of points (which will then be 24 at the siren, with 12 shots) and the second half to dispense assists to his teammates (9 on the scoresheet at the end). But very good too Galliano Marchionniauthor of 19 points, and the eternal Matteo Cavagniniyet another double double this season (12 points and 15 rebounds).
The final that will award the Scudetto will therefore see opposite UnipolSai Briantea84 Cantù and Deco Metalferro Amicacci Abruzzo, in the re-edition of the challenge that awarded the 2018 Scudetto, won by the Canturini with a 2-0 in the series more balanced than the score tells. But the themes of the confrontation that already promises to be a classic of our basketball are many: it will be the challenge of the great exes, Berdun on one side and De Maggi on the other, and the return of coach Di Giusto to play for a Scudetto after six years. from the defeat suffered by his Saint Lucia against Briantea84.
Appointment from May 14 for a series of the best of three games: game one at Briantea84 (which has a worse goal difference in the semifinals), game two and eventual game three in Giulianova the following weekend.
Finally, on Saturday 2 April, the return matches also took place for the crossover for the placements from fifth to eighth place: success for the PDM Treviso on the Menarini Volpi Rosse Firenzand 68 to 61; the Venetians will face the Dinamo Lab for the final fifth / sixth place, after the victory of Sassari 68 to 62 in the derby against Porto Torres.
FIPIC Communication Office on the cover Simone De Maggimvp of the semifinal for Briantea (photo Vezzoli)
