Banco Sardegna Sassari wins Italian Supercup
Banco di Sardegna Sassari has claimed their first ever Italian Supercup title. It was no easy task for the blue and whites as they had to take on the defending 2014 Italian Serie A champions EA7 Emporio Armani Milano in finals. Despite several attempts by the team from Milan to chip away at Sassari’s early lead, Sassari’s depth and success at the free throw line proved too much of an advantage and lead them to the 95-88 victory.
The hosts now add this feather in their cap along with last year’s Italian Cup gold. Along with the elation that came with celebrating the season’s first trophy, Sassari now gains some much needed motivation for the upcoming regular season. They proved that with they are a force to be reckoned with in the Serie A this 2014-15 and should not be taken lightly. Sassari struck first, they struck hard, and they struck fast. They set the tone of the game with a strong 16-2 run in the first quarter that sent Armani backpedaling and scrambling for answers. Offense delivered by Linas Kleiza and Marshon Brooks allowed Armani to slow down the frenetic pace, but still Sassari managed to grab some key baskets both from fastbreaks and from the line to wind up ahead 50-40 at the end of the first half.
After the break, exchanged bombs from beyond the three-point arc, and Joe Ragland and Linas Kleiza were instrumental in slowly chipping away at Sassari’s edge on the scoreboard. Armani found themselves ahead by one point, 71-72 to kick off the final period. Their brief advantage was short lived as Sassari’s Jerome Dyson and Rakim Sanders rained down threes of their own to not only retake the lead, but take it back to double digit levels as well. At that point, the team from Milan could not handle the momentum swing and Sassari moved on with the win.
The game’s main protagonists were Marshon Brooks from Milan who tried his best to lift his team with 26 points and eight rebounds; and Jerome Dyson from Sassari who chimed in with 25 points, six rebounds and three assists. Linas Kleiza and Joe Ragland added 17 and 16 points respectively for Armani, while Edgar Sosa and Olaseni Lawal chipped in 14 and 12 for Sassari.