Sassari pick apart Holon to set sail for the Finals

SASSARI (Italy) - Dinamo Sassari continued their undefeated march in the Play-Offs with a 105-75 triumph over the shorthanded UNET Holon in the second leg of the Semi-Finals to book a date with s.Oliver Wurzburg in the Final.

Treating the energetic home crowd to a stellar end-to-end display, the club from Sardinia claimed a 199-164 victory on aggregate, having also come out on top in Israel a week earlier.

Turning point: It didn't take long for Dinamo to break Holon's resistance in Sassari, with the Rashawn Thomas-led hosts establishing a double-digit advantage in the first quarter and increasing it to 62-38 at the half after exploding for 34 points in the second stanza.

Game heroes: Thomas and Achille Polonara provided most of the firepower for coach Gianmarco Pozzecco, lighting up the Holon defense with a combined 33-point effort. Thomas double-doubled with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists, while Polonara finished the historic night with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

Stats don't lie: The season-ending injuries of T.J. Cline and Guy Pnini opened up a hole in Holon's frontcourt rotation that Sassari masterfully took advantage of, outrebounding the visitors 52-31 and outscoring them 46-28 in the paint.

Bottom line: Set to enter their very first European Final in the club's history, Dinamo will have a chance to keep the trophy in Italy after Umana Reyer Venezia triumphed in the competition last season.

They said: "We are very happy because we reached such an important goal as a European Finals. This is the goal of an island, our Sardinia. We have to be proud and I am. I have to thank everyone, all my players and also all my staff, because they are working very hard and everybody gives something special. This is very important in every success in sport." – Dinamo Sassari head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco

"Congratulation to Dinamo Sassari, coach Pozzecco and his staff, the players for making the Finals. I wish them good luck. We had big problems in tonight's game. We wanted to perform much better than we did. Also Sassari is in a very, very good momentum. They're playing very well. So there was a big difference tonight between the teams." – UNET Holon coach Dan Shamir

FIBA