Team Cobram finishes its adventure in fifth place at the National Finals, which took place in Riccione last weekend. Varese Basketball, still struggling over Negri and Verri's injuries, were not able to get through to the quarter-finals, as they watched the dream of reconfirming themselves as champions of Italy fade away. After they got through the round with victories over Fip Crer (21-19 owing to Fumagalli's explosive finish) and DTB Team (21-6), with both matches played indoors due to unfavourable weather conditions, Team Cobram's players were not able to overpower the 4NCI Venice Lions, despite a match that was drawn out over long stretches that the Venetians (who then graduated as champions of Italy) managed to resolve in their favour with a game-winning triple with just seconds to go.



«We are very disappointed with the final result -says Damiano Verri- because we aimed to get the title back again or, at least, to get to the final. Unfortunately, our route to get to where we wanted to go was deeply affected by injuries that deprived us of two key players. We can't complain to the substitutes about anything, but rather we thank them for their level of commitment. We knew it wouldn't be easy for them to assimilate a game system that we've built up and strengthened year after year so quickly. Now we've got to turn the page and start thinking about what we've got to do next. We want to be ready for next year with the hope of getting the title back again».