Olympic’s great opponent for two years, Spinelli Massagno, who won the Super Cup in 2023 a few months after winning the first trophy in its history (editor’s note: the League Cup in Montreux)returned his property to Friborg on Saturday in Saint-Léonard (98-70) in front of a little more than 1700 spectators.
We will have to wait a few more outings to find out what the team now led by Salvatore Cabibbo really has in their stomach. But we could be heading towards a more difficult season for the Ticino, who lost one of the best players in the championship this summer, Isaiah Williams, who left for the Geneva Lions, and only have three foreign players in their squad.
Already deprived of their historic shooter Dusan Mladjan, injured in a leg at the start of the year, they were unable to count on a great Elijah Morgan (9 points at 2/10 shooting and 4 lost balls). The new American fullback, who scored 35 points in the season opener against Lausanne, had already missed his point during a big defeat in Neuchâtel last weekend.
Somewhat asleep in the first half after a trip to the European Cup in midweek, Friborg Olympic accelerated just after halftime (45-39). The spark came from the magical hands of Eric Nottage (18 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists), with two award-winning baskets, much more effective when he does not spend his time arguing with the referees like Tuesday in Cholet.
“We had to increase the intensity, walk on them. “That’s what we did in the second half and they couldn’t keep up,” declared Natan Jurkovitz on “La Télé” at the end of the debates. “Congratulations to them,” continued Ticino Marko Mladjan, lucid about the current capabilities of his group. We will have to concentrate on our matches against Basel and Geneva before thinking about Olympic or fighting for the titles.
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