Darren Skuse posted on January 20, 2009 10:25
After a close one against Vicenza the previous weekend, S.Stefano had some work to do this week in preparation Sassari in 4th position on the ladder. With bad news for S.Stefano at the start of the week, hearing that captain Roberto Ceriscioli will be out for 2 months was not a good start. Jace Clare returned to the fold after returning from Australia there were some positives to be taken as well. Simona was also welcomed back after being out since the first part of the season due to injury.
The week of practice was solid but still we had our problems in injuries and everyone knew it would be tough game away. Leaving on Friday for Sardegna (the island of the west coast of Italy) we took the team bus to a port near Roma on Friday and spent Friday night on the ferry arriving in Sardegna on Saturday morning. After some recuperation time in a hotel in Sassari we were ready to hit the court by the night. In the warm up it became apparent that Jace Clare would not be partaking in this bout due to illness. A big loss in our team structure but we had the fire power to field a strong line up.
It was a struggle through the first and second quarters see sawing lead. S.Stefano's defense was strong and Sassari was having trouble finding their shots due to the pressure created outside. S.Stefano played fast transition game but had trouble finding rhythm to keep even flow through our defence into offence. With a 3ptr on the buzzer from Raimond, S.Stefano went into the lead 32-27.
Again out of the gates S.Stefano came firing from outside the 3pt in the second half pulling out an 8pt lead. Foul trouble again played a big part in game with a depleted bench and limited combinations Coach Malik had some difficulties to deal with. At the end of the 3rd quarter scores were 48-47 to S.Stefano.
The last quarter was played out at the free throw line, both teams in the bonus early. By this stage S.Stefano had lost Kaspar and Simona who both fouled out. Great performances were put in from Mike and Marco off the bench but it proved difficult to match up against a full strength Sassari combination. S.Stefano definetely had opportunities to finish off the game but struggled to take them seeing Sassari come out on top 6pt victors.
A long weekend for all and slow trip home on the boat....
Final Score 69-63