Italian Serie A: Five-way Tie for Lead
Things are heating up in the Italian Serie A. Ten games into the 2015-16 season and the league has proved to be highly competitive. No less than five teams have fought hard to reach the top of the league standings. To round out the Top 8, three teams trail the leaders with identical records of their own and are just one game behind.
Vanoli Cremona, EA7 Armani, Grissin Bon Reggio Emila, Dolomiti Energia Trento, and Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia are all at 7-3.
EA7 Armani relinquished the solo lead this round after suffering a tight 74-72 loss at the hands of Grissin Bon Reggio Emila on December 6th. The hosts rushed to a massive 21-8 lead in the first quarter and EA7 Armani had to play catch-up for the rest of the game. The slowly cut into the lead in the second and third frames, but failed to seize the lead in the fourth and final quarter. Andrea De Nicolao led Grissin Bon RE with 17 points.
Dolomiti Energia Trento secured their seventh win at the expense of defending champions Banco di Sardegna Sassari. It was an impressive 73-88 win at Sassari no less. Trento came in with a balanced attack. Julian Wright led five other teammates to score in double figures with his 15 points. They snapped Sassari’s two-game winning streak and now the 2015 champions will be looking to rebuild the momentum they lost in the coming rounds. They are 6-4 now and are still very much in the thick of things. It is just a matter getting consistency on the floor once again.
Vanoli Cremona is now in the pole position of the league. They came away with a big, 73-63 home win against 14th ranked Virtus Obiettivo Lavoro Bologna. The game looked like it would be a tight one in the beginning, but Vanoli Cremona built up steam in the second frame and set up a 35-30 advantage at halftime. Bologna cut into the lead in the third quarter, but the fourth frame was all Vanoli Cremona and they strong defense assured them of the win.
Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia closed out the round with a tight 87-88 win on the road against Auxilium Torino. It was stunning that 15th ranked Auxilium Torino (2-8) were able to push Pistoia to the limit in this game. Once again, this emphasizes that the Italian Serie A is very competitive this season.