Last night, JCU Men’s Basketball team played again another firendly game against Petriana Basket before the official beginning of the UISP tournament on Thursday night.

It was an exciting game with the two teams fighting evenly during most of the time. However, Petriana was able to prevail again over JCU, winning the game with a slight score difference, 75-50.

JCU tried to start off the game strong in order to win the re-match. The first quarter saw a head-to-head performance from both teams. JCU players Fattore, Giordano, and Roux were able to stand out thanks to their usual solid and efficient plays in controlling the ball and penetrating the opponents’ game area. Our Gladiators, however, had some trouble in defense, which allowed Petriana to take home the first quarter with the result of 22-21.

In the second quarter, Denham and Tricarico gave a good contribution to the team, but JCU still lacked homogeneity with many lost balls due to reckless passes and wrong control of the space. Towards the end of the second quarter, the defensive side showed some improvements thanks to Samaha and Axtell. However, it was too late to make up for the lost points, and the frame ended 42-33 for Petriana.

In the third quarter, JCU was able to react and found back their cohesiveness. Thanks to some successful three-point shots realized by Fattore and Sussman together with Giordano‘s and Roux‘ smart plays, our Gladiators overturned the result and won 52-54. The contribution of Sulpizi from the bench was also fundamental for the team to take the victory home in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, JCU tried to press more, hoping to close the game with a win. However, the opposing team was able to adjust to our Gladiators’ play, finding more successful solutions and winning the game by only five points, 75-70.

“Compared to our last game against Petriana, I definitely saw significant improvements,” coach Serraino pointed out. “However, we still have some weaknesses that don’t allow us to express our full pontential against more organized and solid team such as Petriana. The individual abilities to obtain more are there, and I feel that we are on the right path to find the solutions to create a more synergical team.”

Congratulations, Gladiators! This is the right attitude we want to see from all of you! Now keep it up!

MVP – Marco Fattore

COMING UP NEXT – First Official Game of the UISP Tournament: JCU vs BKP 7:30 pm | Petriana Court (Via Santa Maria Mediatrice, 24)