European Champions' Cup Play-Offs 1974-1975

This year the final was held in the Dutch city of Antwerp and despite not being able to count on their star Dino Meneghin, who broke his right hand a week before the final, Ignis were once again European champions in a match in which Real Madrid started as clear favourites for the title. The Italians, without a single outstanding performance, were clearly superior to an unknown Real Madrid, who began to lose the match through the uneven Morse-Luyk duel.

From the opening whistle, the strong defense of Varese - with an elastic scheme of zone 1-3-1 designed by Sandro Gamba - knew how to handle the best weapon of Madrid: the counterattack. Only Corbalan and Brabender offered their habitual level of game, since the rest of their companions were shipwrecked on the track, as much in defense as in attack. In this way, Ignis, with a strong defense, patient attacks and good selection of shot, had no major difficulties to control the game and got a maximum advantage of eight points (28-20, min. 14). However, it took just four minutes - from Sandro Gamba sitting Yelverton with four personnel until half-time - for Real Madrid to overcome an adverse 29-25 and leave the score at a favourable 35-38 at the end of the first half. If the Real Madrid players dominated the scoreboard, what could not be expected in the second half if they improved their level?

But if the first half of Real Madrid was bad, the second was even worse, especially in the first minutes, when the Whites were run over by an Ignis who knew how to play strong in defence, even though this cost him the elimination of Yelverton in the 26th minute. The exit to the court of Cabrera in substitution of Corbalan was negative for the Whites, as the Canarian point guard (the hero of the 1974 final) was not the revulsive of his team on this occasion and was overcome first by Rusconi and then by Ossola. In addition, Yelverton's replacement, young Rizzi, hit five consecutive baskets from outside the area that ended up sinking the Whites. When Ferrandiz stopped the game to call a time-out, his team was already down by eleven points (62-51). The match looked very bad for Real Madrid, with no capacity to propose solutions to the Ignis game due to the low reaction power of its players and the bad shooting percentages. The attacking scheme of the Italian team was as simple as effective: to move patiently the game towards the vertices and sides of the Madrid field to find comfortable shooting positions. Although Ferrandiz tried several defensive tactics to stop the rival attacks, Ignis hardly made any mistakes when it came to getting the ball up and exhausting his possessions. The desperate pressure of the Madrid players (with two bases on the pitch to try and steal the ball) was useless against an Italian team that knew how to manage their advantage wisely.

Courtedy of BasketFinals

Ignis Varese - Real Madrid 79-66
Ignis Varese (coach: Sandro Gamba): Aldo Ossola 4, Charlie Yelverton 10, Marino Zanatta 9, Bob Morse (203-F-1951, college: Pennsylvania) 29, Iwan Bisson 14; Dodo Rusconi, Sergio Rizzi 13, Mauro Salvaneschi, Bessi dnp, Enzo Carraria dnp
Real Madrid CF (coach: Pedro Ferrandiz): Juan Antonio Corbalan 11, Wayne Brabender 21, Walter Szczerbiak 16, Clifford Luyk 4, Rafael Rullan 12; Carmelo Cabrera 2, Vicente Ramos dnp, Cristobal Rodriguez dnp, Vicente Paniagua dnp, Luis Maria Prada

6-09-1974 - Rio de Janeiro
European Selection - Americas All-Star 94-85
European Selection (coach: Giancarlo Primo): Pierluigi Marzorati 6, Sergeij Belov 12, Dino Meneghin 14, Wayne Brabender 10, Kresimir Cosic 19, Damir Solman 18, Jacques Cachemire 14, Vinko Jelovac 11, Luis Miguel Santillana, Vasilis Goumas.
Americas All-Star (coach: E. B. Dos Santos): Ubiratan Pereira 8, Omar Arrestia 2, Helio Rubens 12, Tree Rollins 13, A. Stewart 2, Adilson de Freitas 9, Carlos-Alberto Gonzalez 10, Raymond Dalmau 21, Ernesto Gherman 8, Alex Devlin.

28-09-1974 - Ginasio da Hebraica, Sao Paulo
European Selection - Americas All-Star 103-99 (47-40)
European Selection (coach: Giancarlo Primo): Sergeij Belov 11, Dino Meneghin 15, Wayne Brabender 10, Kresimir Cosic 16, Damir Solman 15, Vinko Jelovac 13, Pierluigi Marzorati 18, Luis Miguel Santillana 5.
Americas All-Star (coach: E. B. Dos Santos): Ubiratan Pereira 10, Helio Rubens 16, Tree Rollins 15, Adilson de Freitas 4, Raymond Dalmau 6, Arturo Guerrero 10, Ernesto Gherman 28, Carlos-Alberto Gonzalez 6, Carter 4.

1-10-1974 - Brussels
European Selection - Americas All-Star 103-90
European Selection (coach: Giancarlo Primo): Santillana 2, Pierluigi Marzorati 13, Sergeij Belov 9, Dino Meneghin 19, Wayne Brabender 8, Kresimir Cosic 8, Damir Solman 25, Vinko Jelovac 19.
Americas All-Star (coach: E. B. Dos Santos): Arturo Guerrero 14, Ubiratan Pereira 10, Helio Rubens 4, Tree Rollins 8, Dennis Carter 8, Adilson de Freitas 19, Carlos-Alberto Gonzalez 4, Raymond Dalmau 19, Omar Arrestia 4.

4-10-1974 - Rome
European Selection - Americas All-Star 85-87 (51-44)
European Selection (coach: Giancarlo Primo): Dino Meneghin 15, Pierluigi Marzorati 9, Sergeij Belov 10, Kresimir Cosic 17, Vinko Jelovac 8, Damir Solman 10, Wayne Brabender 16, Luis Miguel Santillana, Jacques Cachemire, Vasilis Goumas.
Americas All-Star (coach: E. B. Dos Santos): Ernesto Gherman 8, Arturo Guerrero 8, Ubiratan Pereira 25, Alex Devlin, Helio Rubens 6, Tree Rollins 14, Dennis Carter 7, Adilson de Freitas 13, Carlos-Alberto Gonzalez 2, Raymond Dalmau 4.