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Caserta want to win through defense

Caserta have a run of five defeats and they are away of the crisis they are in. They lack the confidence and everything will start from defense for them

Montegranaro have used the problems that Varese are facing to get their third win that put them one step away from the Top 8. They showed that they play better at home than away as they haven't won a single away game.

They didn't open the game well, the defense was shaky, the offense was weak and they were down by 21-14 at the end of first period. Offense improved later on, but they didn't manage to reduce the deficit. It all came back in the second half when they took advantage of their opponents poor run and got the lead for the first time. Varese came to 78-77 in the final minutes, but thanks to Mayo's six points they managed to win.

Mayo ended the game with 15 points while Collins was the best shooter with 17. Lauwers played his best game so far with 12 points.

For the second round in a row, they have a chance to win in front of their fans and improve their situation on the table.

-We've gone through a week of hard practice and we are ready to get a new win. We are playing against a quality opponent that are in a crisis. They have many Americans, young Vitali, and experienced Mordente and Michelori. Their transition is fast and we have to force them to play position basketball, otherwise we will be in danger - said coach Recalcati.

Caserta is another example of great defense and very poor offense. Their scored of 2 wins and 5 defeats puts them in 13th spot in the league, but the most worrying thing is that they have a run of 5 defeats after 2 wins. Apart from the game against Regiana, they lost all other games by 4-6 points and a better offensive performance might make them more dangerous for any opponent.

They hosted Brindisi in the last round who had a run of 4 wins but that didn't stop them from taking the lead of up to 9 points during the second quarter. In the second half, their defense got lax, they allowed a 12-0 run at one point and were suddenly 11 points down, which  increased to 13 points in the last period. However, a great end-game performance saw them come level at 65-65 and had Hannah scored the three-pointer, the win would probably have stayed in Caserta. Brooks also had a chance to give his team a point in the last attack of the game.

Brooks was the best shooter with 20 points and he added 5 rebounds to his tally. The rest of the team was not at this level so Hannah and Roberts got a combined shot of 5/18 and the only other notable player was Moore with 9 rebounds and 9 points.

They have to find the way out of their crisis against Montegranaro and coach Molin is aware of that:

- A run of 5 defeats puts a huge pressure on us, but we had a chance to win each game except the one against Reggiana. We've worked hard during the week and we have to win to regain the confidence. We have to play like a team, and not as individuals, and we have to make as few errors as possible. Caserta have dangerous back court, Cinciarinija, Mayoa and Collinsa and we have to stop the. We will base our game on defense while we have to have a good flow of the ball in offense as Montegranaro are not playing the best defense.

It will be interesting to see which philosophy wins as Montegranaro like to outrun their opponents while CAserta base every thing on defense. 

Caserta obviously have a crisis of results, they're in a row of five defeats, but they had real chances for winning in four games. Everythings starts with the defense with them, and that's all they talked about before today's game, and were mentioning clever game in the offense. It all leads to conclusion that today, we'll be seeing war with positions, like many times so far in Caserta's games. They never conceded over 81 points so far, and their matches ended with 149, 177 (overtime), 158, 135, 131, 146, 134 points. Even tough Montegranaro love faster basketball, coach Recalcati announced that they shouldn't rely on runs against Caserta today, because it might be lethal for them. This game means a lot for Caserta, and I believe they'll calm it down and try to win using defense.