01 September, 2016
30 April, 2017
Retin Obasohan Avellino
26/09/2016
News
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The only way is up for Avellino following Supercoppa final

MILANO (Basketball Champions League) – Sunday night had a distinct bitter-sweet taste for Basketball Champions League participants Sidigas Scandone Avellino. While ‘I Lupi’ (the wolves) fell 90-72 to EA7 Armani Milano in the final of the Italian Supercoppa at Mediolanum Forum, the memories from their thrilling 74-72 win in the semi-final against Grission Bon Reggio Emilia less than 24 hours previously were still very vivid.

While they did not lift their maiden trophy, Avellino had every reason to feel that this weekend in Milano which ended with them battling out the reigning Italian champions for the first title of the season signals the starting point of a very hopeful year.

“We played against a stronger team, it is fair to give credit to Milano and take this experience for the future,” commented Avellino head coach Stefano Sacripanti following the end of the Supercoppa weekend. “I will not try to transmit to my players an assumption that we can win the championship, but to use this game as a starting point from where we begin to improve and close the gap [with Milano].

“We have seen many good things, for example our three new perimeter players while we are waiting to recuperate Fesenko and play a kind of basketball that is more suitable to our characteristics. Beyond the bitter taste of defeat, we fought well and we want to be protagonists (in the league).”

One of the recently-arrived perimeter players of Avellino was young Belgian international Retin Obasohan, who had 12 points and five rebounds in the final and just like Ukrainian star center Fesenko they had been with their new team for less than a week prior to the Supercoppa.

Joe Ragland had a team-high 18 points for Avellino in the final and the exact same figure in the semi-final, where he came up with the most memorable play of the weekend. With Avellino trailing 72-71 and less than two seconds remaining on the clock, the American guard received the in-bound pass at the top of the key and drilled a buzzer-beating triple over Amedeo Della Valle’s raised hands to give Scandone the win and the ticket to the final.

“Joe Ragland has the stamp of the champion and I am fortunate to have him right now, at the most important stage of his career. He has to be our leader,” said Sacripanti.

Avellino are in Group D of the Regular Season together with Iberostar Tenerife, Cibona Zagreb, SIG Strasbourg, Mega Leks and Telenet Oostende, who lost 85-81 to Port of Antwerp Giants in the Belgian Supercup at the weekend. The two teams that will emerge from the qualification rounds that start this week will complete the Group D field.