After Sunday’s defeat in Jesolo, the Civitus Allianz Vicenza back on the pitch on Saturday evening, at 20.30, on the home parquet, to try to get back to scoring points and hit the play-off goal. The opponent, however, is one of the difficult ones: it is the UEB Gesteco Cividale, one of the battleships of the championship, leaders on a par with Cremona. For the company, a great performance by the guys from Ciocca will not be enough: a warm and noisy audience will also be needed, ready to support the team for the entire forty minutes.
In the four precedents between berici and friulani, Vicenza has never managed to win and wants to dispel the taboo: the Gesteco has in fact won both comparisons last season and also the two already played this year, including the Super Cup match in September.
It will not be, as mentioned, an easy challenge: the Friulians excel in almost all team statistics, starting with the points scored (78, third force in the group). The specialty is the three-pointers (34% overall), but other highlights are the rebounds (42 per match, only Fiorenzuola does better) and a great ball circulation, since no other team fills assists like Gesteco (17 a challenge). We must not forget the defensive skills of Cividale, third defense of the league with less than 70 points conceded per game with an innate ability to defend within the arc (just 45% immediately); very few rebounds allowed per game (only 34, best team in group B) and 2 blocks per match. Therefore, the defects of Pillastrini’s team are few: Vicenza will have to try to leverage its ability to be intense on the pitch and trying to take advantage of those few moments of pause that the Friulian battleship suffers from time to time, a team complete with many champions of the category.
Among these, Stefano Laudoni should not be in the game, who missed the last commitments of the Friulian team and who has not taken the field since 27 March. Not that coach Pillastrini’s arrows are missing: one above all, that of Adrian Chiera. The former Cento guard is having a memorable season, averaging 14 points per game with an unreal 49% in long-range shooting, to which he usually adds three assists and as many rebounds. In the center, the other main scorer of the Gesteco: Leonardo Battistini, player with double-double average in his pocket (14 points and 11 rebounds), lethal in the arc (55%). In the control room, the balls pass through the hands of Eugenio Rota: 11 points per average and 5 assists, a director who is not at all hidden from the Friulian team. Attention then to the defensive specialist, Alessandro Cassese, a real mastiff on the outside, and to Gabriele Miani’s ability to suddenly light up. In the painting, good company for Battistini, supported by a great rebounder like Alessandro Paesano and the explosiveness of Daniel Ohenhen. Last but not least, Laudoni’s absence did not last long: last week, Gian Paolo Almansi arrived to shore up the team from Bernareggio, who in his first match with the new shirt has already scored 8 points in 12 minutes of play.
