By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Milan, Italy – Naturally when you are hosting the Eurobasket, even a group phase, you have ambitions. And that was the case with Italy, which got the easy 83-62 win over Estonia.
The hosts of Group C had a 52-33 halftime lead and finished early the game behind 19 points by Simone Fontecchio on 7/10 FG and 17 points by Nikolo Melli on 7/12 FG.
The night ended up being a triumph for Italy which also got a double-double by Achille Polonara (12 p. 11 r) and a good game by youngster Nico Mannion (12 p.).
“It was a great start for us in front of our fans”, said Polonara. “You know that tomorrow we have a big game against Greece, but we want to play hard not only for us but also for injured Danilo Gallinari”.
Coach Gianmarko Pozzecco added: “We want to dedicate this victory to Danilo. I am really thankful to my players, because a lot of them sacrificed things from their game, like Stefano Tonut, and focused on defense, so that’s really important for us as a team. We have now a game against one of the best teams in Europe, we might lose, but we will have a good game in my opinion”.
Kerr Kriisa who is playing at the University of Arizona had also 20 points on 8/11 FG for the losing side, but he wasn’t a factor in the game. Still, he ended up being the only scorer in double digits for his team.
“We had one really bad stretch in the second period and then it was really hard to come back”, he said after the game.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL