BC "Germani Brescia" (Italy) - BC "Prometey". October 19. 21:30. 7DAYS EuroCup group tournament. Group A. 2nd round. Brescia (Italy). Arena “Palaleonessa”. Broadcast - YouTube channel "DIVISPORT BASKETBALL".
On October 19, 10 matches of the 2nd tour of the 7DAYS EuroCup will be played. Our “Prometey” have to hold their first road match within this tournament on the court of Italian club “Germani Brescia”.
This match will be the third official confrontation of our club with a representative of Italy. Two previous ones left only the best memories for the fans of “red and white”, our players and coaches. “Prometey” beat “Dynamo Sassari” in the first group round of the Champions League twice. The road victory became the first historical success for “Prometey” at this tournament stage; and then, a devastating defeat of Italian club in the second round in Zaporizhzhia led Ronen Ginzburg’s team to the play-off. And here, a confrontation with “Germani Bescia” from the city of Brescia (population of 200 000) in the North of Italy, is on the agenda.
Basketball club “Brescia” was founded 65 years ago, however, in 1996 ceased to exist, but was revived in 2009. Having passed several levels of Italian club basketball in 7 years “Brescia” obtained the ticket to league A. For them, the ongoing season is the seventh one in Italy’s elite division. The club managed to gain considerable authority in their homeland during this short period. “Brescia” came third in the regular Italian Championship in 2017/2018, 2019/2020 and 2021/2022. In 2018, they became a finalist of the National Cup. Two years ago, The Italian Championship finished early due to the pandemic. In the play-off of the 2017/2018 season, today’s EuroCup “Prometey” rival lost to “Milano” with the score of 1:3. Last season the team from Italian region of Lombardia dropped out of the Tournament distance at the stage of quarterfinal being defeated with the same score by “Dinamo Sassari”.
This year’s season is the fourth one in the 7DAYS EuroCup for “Brescia”. The team hasn’t got any considerable achievements. We can just remember the COVID-season 2019/2020, when they were in second place in the first group tournament. However, in the following group stage, they came last in their quartet, after which the 7DAYS EuroCup was terminated.
A week ago, in the 7DAYS EuroCup opening match “Brescia” lost to local “Joventut” in Spanish Badalona (63:80). It isn’t worth doing any far-reaching conclusions. By and large, in the first three ten-minute segments we could see a fight on an equal footing on the court of Badalona. Mostly, the three starting minutes of the final quarter affected the result of that confrontation, when “-4” for “Brescia” turned to “-18”. Besides that, we cannot help but take into account the fact that “Joventut” is considering one of the main contenders for victory in the 7DAYS EuroCup by many specialists.
As for the Italian Championship, “Brescia” performs quite well in it. The “Prometey” opponent started the tournament with a minimal road loss from the reigning national champion “Milano” (77:78), and then obtained two home victories over “Varese” (88:83) and “Scafati” (82:81). A confrontation with a newbie of league A “Scafati” turned to be dramatic and, somewhat, unique: following the results of each quarter and a tiebreak, the advantage of either team did not exceed one point. 21 seconds before the end of the final quarter, “Brescia” took the lead (72:70). The opponent did not use their first attack at first, but then grabbed the rebound and took the lead after an effective attack from the arc. “Brescia” had 5 seconds left for the final attack, and they managed to use them, sending the game into overtime with the accurate free throw by American Kenny Gabriel. This additional 5-minute segment was going under the dictation of today’s opponent of “Prometey” who led in score.
The head coach of our team Ronen Ginzburg makes a peculiar emphasise on the constant participation of “Brescia” in the Italian league A: “Italian teams are very strong, with a lot of traditions. Although our rivals lost to “Milano” only one point, they had a chance to beat the Euroleague team. “Brescia” is one of the strongest teams in our group and one of it’s favourites”.
The core of today’s “Brescia” consists of the 6 American legionnaires at once. Two more players, 37-year-old Christian Burns and 29-year-old John Petrucelli have two passports each – American and Italian. John Petrucelli is a main shooter of the team. The average productiveness of this forward is 23 points. In the match against “Varese”, he gained 31 scoring points. Along with Italian Amedeo Della Valle, John is one of the absolute leaders of the team. Della Valle is also an effective player. In the confrontation with “Joventut”, alike Petruceli he scored 13 points, and last Sunday, with his 20 points, became the most productive player in the match of his team against “Scafati”.
At the same time, a successful performens of “Brescia” depends not only on Petrucelly and Della Valle’s actions on the court. The team includes many individually skilful players; however, the “Prometey” rival differs, first of all, by the well-mastered by 40-year-old coach Alessandro Magro team interaction. “Brescia” is not a “sniper” team. In the ongoing season, in the confrontation with “Varese” the percentage of three-throws accuracy was a little bit less than 40, and in the two last matches against “Joventut” and “Scafia” turned to be dramatically low – about 20. The team succeeds in attack thanks to combination play and individual mastery of the players.
All in all, “Brescia” looks “on paper”stronger than “Lietkabelis”, but at the same time, they are not the opponent who cannot be beaten by “Prometey”. We sincerely wish our team the obtain the first road victory in the 7DAYS EuroCup.
To follow the course of events in the match “Brescia” – “Prometey”, watch the live video broadcast on YouTube channel “DIVISPORT BASKETBALL”, starting at 21:30.
