Italy pile on points on night of Nicolo Melli's 100th appearance

MILAN (Italy) - Italy overcame Great Britain 90-56 in their last home date of FIBA EuroBasket 2022.

A transfer from Milan to Berlin now awaits, for a Last 16 clash with Serbia for the Azzuri. But this was an ideal sendoff for the Group C hosts who pulled away in the second period to ensure victory for their captain, Nicolo Melli, on his 100^th international appearance.

The result meant that Ukraine finished second in the pool, above Croatia, with Greece already certain of top spot.

But Great Britain, on an emotional evening following the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, produced a creditable performance despite ending the tournament without a victory.

They immediately fell 10-0 behind, and would never lead, but three-pointers from Myles Hesson and Ben Mockford twice trimmed their deficit to one in the opening quarter.

However a 7-0 burst propelled Italy 26-18 in front and their advantage grew to 47-37 at half-time.

Despite 18 points from Hesson, GB could not match the size or stall the shooting of the Italians with head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco able to give his bench some extended time with his team outscoring their guests 23-2 in the fourth and his reserves outscoring those of their opponents 47-10. 

Turning Point: Just when Great Britain had reduced Italy’s lead to 35-32 late in the second period, aa Paul Biligha dunk keyed a 9-2 run that saw GB miss six consecutive shots to fall irrevocably off the pace.

TCL Player of the Game: Simone Fontecchio notched 18 points on 5-for-7 shooting for Italy, adding 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

Stats Don't Lie: Italy scored 23 points off 16 GB turnovers.

Bottom Line: Italy finish fourth in Group C with a 3-2 record and face Serbia next. Great Britain, just as they did at EuroBasket 2017, depart with a 0-5 mark.

They said:
"it was a nice game in Milan - of course, it is a special city and I believe my first appearance with the national team was in Milan. So it's kind of a circle which it's nice. I'm very happy to be part, of course, of the national team. Being able to play 100 times with the national team is something that not everybody can do. So I'm honoured and humbled.

"We had a pretty solid journey in this group. We honestly just played well in on game. And we finished fourth this. This is the truth. Because we played very well against Greece. And of course, they are one of the best teams in this competition. And also Estonia. Winning those two very, very close games didn't help us. But I think we are building something and hopefully we can have a perfect game against Serbia." - Italy centre Nicolo Melli

"Of course we respect Serbia because I grew up with Yugoslavian basketball. Most of my heroes are from that era. Sasha Danilovic may be the person I respect most of my life. We will respect them. But I will go everywhere with my players. I trust them. They play with heart. And when you play with one team that has big heart, you can feel saved. Of course Serbia has got everything. But I trust in my players." - Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco

"It was another difficult night for us. Italy played well.  They switched a lot. They moved a lot and that caused us a lot of problems. That was the main difference in the game: their persistence and their togetherness. We fought as hard as we could. We tried as hard as we could for the whole of EuroBasket but it just didn’t go the way we wanted.” - Great Britain forward Dan Clark

 

FIBA