Pistoia win Italian LegaDue
Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia has been crowned the champions of LegaDue in Italy after overcoming Centrale del Latte Brescia in the deciding game of the finals series. Pistoia emerged victorious by a comfortable margin, securing the league title with a 60:47 win in front of the club’s home fans.
Indeed the margin of victory went against what had been a very tight series and a tight Regular Season in LegaDue. The two teams had traded blows throughout the five game series, but in the end it was Pistoia who had the extra gear to cross the finish line as champions, and in doing so secured their place in Serie A for next season.
The Pistoia players exploded from the blocks at the start and from the first tip off they set about making life difficult for their opponents, and it was the first 10 minutes that set the tone for the entire game. Indeed, such was the quality from Pistoia in the opening quarter that Brescia could only score 6 points. The first interval arrived with Pistoia taking a commanding 9 point lead at 15-6.
Brescia set about getting into the game throughout the second quarter and both teams traded scores during the period. A much closer 10 minutes meant that the away team cut the deficit to just five with the teams heading in at half time with the scores reading 27-22 in Pistoia’s favour.
Brescia emerged after the midway interval with greater impetus and set about the Pistoia defense while offering their opponents a sterner proposition. The away team managed to win the quarter with 19 points to just 14 from Pistoia to send the game heading to the fourth tied at 41 each. Whatever the outcome in the last period, this was to be a low scoring affair.
After a solid third period, Brescia had the momentum heading into the fourth, but the players could not maintain the pace as Pistoia put in a huge ten minutes. Cheered on by the fans the home team put 19 points on the board during the final quarter and managed to limit their opponents to just 6, ensuring they took the game, the championship, and promotion.
In such a low scoring contest, no player was going to go on the kind of scoring run that could see 30 points acquired over a game. However, American guard Antonio Graves (191 cm, Pittsburgh’07) was pivotal to the Pistoia victory with 17 points, which proved to be a game high by some distance.
Pistoia’s victory was very much the tale of two quarters, as it was a fantastic opening and final 10 minutes that secured triumph. The fans will argue that over the course of the season it was justified that their team would win the title, after-all Pistoia had finished joint top on record in the LegaDue Regular Season standings. The team will now look forward to playing in the Italian top flight next season, while Brescia will start again in LegaDue.