Getting off to a slow start is becoming an (unpleasant) habit for the Alma Mater Studiorum, who are competing in the EUSA European University Men’s Basketball Championships in Salerno. Against the Polish Naval Academy of the Heroes of Westerplatte, the match ended 95–75. But in the first quarter, the Poles were ahead, 21–26, before the University of Bologna fought back to go into the half-time break leading 57–43. By the third quarter, the score was 80–61 and the match was effectively in the bag.
Coach Matteo Lolli used the carrot rather than the stick to explain his players’ slow start.
“We started off a bit tense, with our opponents leading 0–7. Then, though, we recovered. We were in control and led right through to the end. We’re enjoying first place and our day off. But we know that it all starts again on Thursday. And we’ll have to be ready.”
Here’s Francesco Buscaroli’s take on the match. “It felt as though we’d already qualified, but we knew we had to win. Apart from the first two minutes, when we seemed a bit sluggish, we approached the game in the right way. And then we defended well right until the end.”
Riccardo Galletti is pleased with his own performance and that of his teammates. “We did well to get the little things right that we know how to do. The start was brilliant. We put a lot of energy into our defence. We played like that for forty minutes, only looking at the result at the very end.”
The scoreboard: Vittorio Zedda 11, Mattia Ferdeghini 3, Alessandro Grotti, Riccardo Galletti 14, Riccardo Ghedini 5, Giulio Martini 8, Alfonso Zampogna 17, Alessandro Scarponi 16, Francesco Buscaroli 2, Manuele Solaroli 11, Matteo Dias 8, Giacomo Bianchini.
Matteo Lolli, head coach; Giorgio Broglia, assistant coach; Gabriele Fin, team manager; Alex Ranuzzi and Daniele Gasparri, officials; Alessandro Tirozzi, referee.
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