Napoli Basket lost against Trapani Shark 97-90 in the sixth match of the championship, played this evening at the Alcott Arena. The Azzurri, after starting 0-11, managed to come back and take the lead, but conceded the decisive run between the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Trapani started out strong with a 0-11 run led by Alibegovic and Petrucelli, while Napoli responded with four points by Caruso. Trapani continued to score with free throws from Eboua, while Flagg kept the Azzurri in contact, who stayed within 4 with scores from Bolton and Sims. However, late in the quarter, three-pointers from Petruccelli and Cappelletti brought Trapani to 18-27 after 10 minutes of play. The Azzurri started the second quarter well with El Amin scoring on a drive, and Trapani responded with Sanogo's free throws and Notae's three-pointer, making it 25-34. El Amin made no mistakes from the free throw line. The Azzurri ran an 11-0 run with El Amin and Mitrou Long, Trapani to call a timeout and Napoli's first lead at 36-34. Trapani scored again with Eboua, Simms made a drive, and Rossato tied the score at 38. Rossato, on fire again for his team, made another three-pointer, tying the score by Flagg. At the end of the quarter, El Amin scored a great basket, and Napoli closed the first half ahead 46-44.
Simms and Allen exchanged three-pointers in the begin of third quarter, Trapani regained the lead through Alibegovic, Simms again hitting a three-pointer. Ford scored with a foul, but the Azzurri went on a 6-0 run trailed by Simms and Mitrou Long to make it 60-56, forcing Repesa to call a timeout. Napoli continued its strong run, scoring through Caruso. Trapani made no mistake from the free throw line with Hurt, but Simms score again from outside. A technical foul for the Azzurri bench resulted in the visiting team hitting seven consecutive free throws to tie the score at 65. Another mini-break for Napoli, 5-0, brought Trapani back up from below, and they tied the score through Notae. Trapani finally made it 73-77 at the final break with Notae. Allen again for Trapani, Bolton tries to keep Napoli in contact, but Trapani extends the lead to 9 by Hurt. Bolton gets a 3-point play, but Trapani steal the ball again and scores with Notae and Allen for a 10-point lead. The Azzurri don't give up and find important points from Caruso and Simms to bring the score to -4 with 3:30 left. The Alcott Arena is hot, Trapani calls a timeout. Ford finds a crucial basket at the buzzer. Napoli tries until the end, but Alibegovic's basket closes the game. The game ends 97-90 for Trapani.
Napoli Basket will play next Sunday, November 9th at 5:30 pm on the Dolomiti Energia Trentino court.
Box Score:
Flagg 16, Mitrou-Long 18, El-Amin 12, Croswell 7, Faggian 1, Treier 2, Gentile 1, Simms 21, Caruso 8, Bolton 4, Saccoccia n.e., Gloria n.e.
Coach Magro:
"I saw the team I want again, regardless of the result. A vibrant team that tried to play together. We were able to make the arena on fire, which inspired us. We need to understand what's going wrong, but we faced a very strong team well. Trapani's individual skills emerged in decisive moments. At times, there were decisions that could have changed the momentum of the game. Our opponents scored a lot from the free throw line; we almost managed to close the gap, but at the crucial moment, we stalled a bit. We did very well, for long stretches of the game, at limiting their counterattacks. We're close to achieving that awareness that will lead us to further improve, even defensively. We're just lacking a bit of maturity to overcome difficulties."
credits. Luca Morvillo