Serie A Basketball: Trapani Defeats Napoli and Catches Up with Virtus at the Top

Bologna, 28 April 2025 – I Away successes of Trapani and Trieste – obtained respectively at the expense of Cremona and Naples – have definitively brought down the curtain on the twenty-eighth and third-to-last round of the regular season of the Serie A basketball championship, but above all kept open every discussion related to the fight for salvation, keeping alive the very faint hopes of Pistoia and Scafati. At the Fruit Village Arena in Naples, Trapani Shark beat the home team 95-76 and thus caught up with Virtus Segafredo Bologna at the top of the standings, with 42 points. At the end of the match, five players from the Sicilian chessboard have reached double figures for points scored, with Langston Galloway who pushed himself to 24 (best scorer of the game and also author of 3 assists and 8 rebounds), followed by 17 from JD Notae and 14 with 7 rebounds from Chris Horton. In Naples, however, 39 from the duo formed by Jacob Pullen – the soul of the Neapolitan comeback in the third quarter (he will close with 19) – and Erick Green were not enough. Trapani immediately stepped on the accelerator and in the first half of the game scored 57 points (27 in the opening quarter and 30 in the second) thanks to the excellent contribution provided by the bench and excellent shooting percentages (56% from two and 55% from three). The gap of 18 lengths (57-39) – which even became 25 halfway through the third quarter (70-45) – was not enough to protect the Sicilians from the proud reaction of Naples who, aided by the zone defense and a super Pullen, tried to reopen the game by coming back to -8 with a partial of 17-2. Horton, Galloway and Notae however allowed the visiting team to find the thread of the tangle in time and to get their hands on the victory after having raised the bar of the advantage up to +17. Pallacanestro Trieste, on the other hand, is keeping the playoff race alive more than ever, having defeated Cremona 101-81 against Vanoli. A victory that features the signatures of Denzel Valentine (24 points) and Jarrod Uthoff, author of 23 points and 13 rebounds. For Vanoli, who, like Naples, attempted a courageous comeback, four players in double figures, led by an 18-point Semaj Christon, were not enough. Trieste tried not to waste time and already from the opening quarter started with a 12-2 break. The plays of Uthoff and Candussi then increased the gap to +15 at the sound of the siren that marked the first mini-interval. Cremona had indeed gone astray but also had the strength, after a second quarter in which it withstood the impact of the Giulians, to try to go back up the current by relying on a tarantula-like Christon, who – well supported by Davis and Owens – pushed his team to -5 with 10' to go. Brotto's men then tried to keep up with Trieste but in the end they had to raise the white flag in the face of the deadly plays of Uthoff and Valentine.