Fabo Herons, KO and disappointment: Mestre passes in the single final for A2, it ends 70-79

Cento, June 22, 2025 - Nothing to do for Fabo Herons Montecatini , who also goes down in the second final, the single-game one, for promotion to A2. Upstairs goes Mestre, who wins after extra time and after a very very difficult battle also from a psychological point of view.

A one-off match that sees the teams very tense and a low final score. The stakes were very high. At the end of overtime, Mestre takes the lead, with Montecatini, eighty seconds from the end, having a mountain to climb (67-73). Too bad, because the red and blue team reaches 66-57, therefore +9 with five minutes to go. Then it melts like snow in the sun, allowing Mestre to come back and tie the score at 66-66, which leads to overtime.

Montecatini fans in Cento: they painted an entire stand in red and blue

The Herons are bitter, failing to give a dream to the hundreds of fans who arrived from Montecatini and who, very noisy and colorful, filled an entire stand. And so, after having missed the A2 train in the "real" final, the one against Ruvo di Puglia (also promoted) for Fabo Herons comes a second defeat.

A cherished dream that vanishes in the end, with the last forty seconds in which the Spa team definitively gives in with a final score that is perhaps too severe. Sgobba and Arrigoni score in double figures for the Herons. A Montecatini team that wins the triple challenge, but loses the rebound challenge by 53-37. A lot of disappointment also on the big screen that had been set up in Montecatini, to allow those who could not reach Cento to follow the challenge. Now, despite the understandable anger for the second opportunity that flew away, it is time for a rest after a truly endless and very demanding championship. Mestre meanwhile celebrates, the opponents of Montecatini return to A2 after 37 years.