History of the men's basketball club "Prometey"

Прометей

Sports Club Prometey was established in September 2018. Patrons and business partners Volodymyr Dubynsky (current president of BC Prometheus) and Pavlo Chukhno (vice-president of the sports club), who in the past was a professional basketball player and played in the clubs of the national Superleague "Dynamo" (Dnipropetrovsk), , CSC ZSU (Kyiv), "Lviv Polytechnic" stood at the origins of its creation.Pavlo Chukhno

Two priorities, basketball and volleyball, were chosen in the development of the sports club. The idea of ​​developing a basketball club immediately received support from the Basketball Federation of Ukraine.

The President of the Federation Mykhailo Brodsky directed the management of "Prometey" to start performances already in the 2018/2019 season in the High League of the Ukrainian Championship. Large-scale work on personnel and club management selection, on formation of the coaching staff and team composition was carried out in the shortest possible time. The team was headed by Dmytro Markov, who had experience in working for Dnipro club teams and youth national teams of Ukraine of all ages.

Kyrylo BolshakovThe sports direction of the club was strengthened by one of the leading domestic specialists Kyrylo Bolshakov, who achieved success in the field of coaching with various men's and women's teams of Ukraine, and before moving to Kamyanske successfully worked in Italy. Kyrylo Bolshakov took the post of sports director of the basketball club.

Prometey gathered for his first training session on September 17, 2018, in fact three weeks before the start of the High League championship. Eventually, in the premiere season, the colors of the new club were defended by the following basketball players: guards Suprim Hannah, Yaroslav Kadigrob, Serhiy Alforov, Serhiy Startsev, Martez Volker, Andriy Gutsaliuk, Andriy Kobets, Oleksiy Chyhrynov, forwards Oleksandr Misyats, Max Konate, Andriy Kulish, Ihor Krivtsov, Vitaliy Malchevsky, Yuriy Lokhmanchuk, center Serhiy Zagreba.Prometey

"Prometey" was included to the eastern group, and its rivals were 8 teams: BC "Kryvyi Rih", "Niko-Basket" (Nikolaev), BC "Mariupol", "Kharkiv Sokoly", "Zolotyi vik" (Kropyvnytskyi), SSU (Sumy), "Flint" (Kremenchuk), "Dnipro-2-DVUFK" (Dnipro).

Its first official match “Prometey” played on October 6, 2018 in Kropyvnytskyi against Zolotyi Vik. The premiere of our team was successful: victory 86:80. In the fourth game, Prometey lost 74:85 in Mariupol, but then gave a series of 28 (!) consecutive victories in the first stage - it was obvious that there are absolutely no competitors for Dmytro Markov's team in the group. Some of these victories, already in the new 2019, were acquired in the Palace of Sports of BC Prometey, which was reconstructed thanks to the efforts of the club's management.

PrometeyThe renovated sport hall with modern American-made parquet has become a springboard for the path of the basketball club to the Superleague. "Prometey" won the march in the second stage of the championship, and then in the playoffs. In the second stage, eight of the quartets of the best teams of the western and eastern zones were formed. The guys from Kamyanske met only with those teams with which they did not play at the first stage ("Ternopil-TNEU", BC "Rivne-OShVSM", "Stary Lutsk-University", "Khimik-2" Yuzhne). In 16 matches they suffered only one away defeat from "Ternopil-TNEU".

In the semifinal series of the playoffs, "Prometey" did not leave any chances to "Khimik-2" (85:58, 88:77), and in the final - BC "Rivne-OSHVSM" (88:55, 85:70, 89:55 ) and rightfully became the strongest team in the High League!

PrometeyDebut for "Prometey" in the Cup of Ukraine turned out to be successful. Initially, the team from Kamyanske was stronger than Cherkasy Mavpy-2 and Hoverla from Ivano-Frankivsk in the two-round confrontation. In the 1/8 finals, Dmytro Markov's wards met with a representative of the BC Odessa Superleague. Both matches proceeded in an exciting fight: at home "Prometey" lost 80:85, and in Odessa a minute before the final siren was winning with the necessary points difference, but missed two shots from afar and the final victory 85:83 was not enough to break into quarterfinal.

On May 14, 2019 in Kyiv, the Basketball Federation of Ukraine held a meeting with the presidents and leaders of nine Ukrainian clubs, including Prometey. Giving a speach at it, the President of the Federation Mykhailo Brodsky, made a statement that the Superleague can be expanded just at the expense of "Prometey".

With the decision about joining to the Superleague, a new stage in the life of our club has begun. In the summer off-season period, the management conducted an active transfer campaign. First of all, personnel changes affected the coaching staff of the club. The position of the Head coach was offered to the authoritative Latvian specialist Karlis Muizhnieks.

PrometeyUnder his leadership BC "Ventspils" became a multiple champion of Latvia, and the "Khimik" from Yuzhne won our Superleague in the season 2014/2015. The coach also worked fruitfully in the men's and women's national teams of Latvia.

 Compared to the 2018/2019 season, only Max Konate, Oleksandr Misyats, Ihor Kryvtsov and Vitaliy Malchevsky kept their positions in the game "cage". "Prometey" was replenished with four American legionnaires at once: Malik Trent was the most productive player of the Superleague of the 2018/2019 season in BC "Zaporizhzhia"; Randy Kulpepper used to prove himself well in our league, and also in Zaporizhzhia. Center Michael Myers won the title of champion of Belgium and the Czech Republic, from student basketball came bigman Jaylon Miller. Domestic newcomers of "Prometey" were also highly qualified. Denis Lukashov is a member of the national team of Ukraine, and Oleksandr Antypov and Illia Sydorov became champions of Ukraine as part of Khimik.

At the pre-season meeting with the team, the club's management aimed the wards at getting into the top four at the end of the season and further participation in the European Cups in the 2020/2021 season. Prometey played its debut match in the Superleague on September 28, 2019 in his home sports complex with BC Zaporizhzhia and defeated the opponent in a tense fight 98:89. From the first games of the championship "Prometey" showed its ambitions and after six victories in a row became one of the leaders of the championship.

However, the team from Kamyanske failed to keep up the high pace. For example, in six matches in December, the team failed four times. This forced the coaching staff of "Prometey" to make personnel replacements in the team. Agreements with Randy Culpepper and Malik Trent were terminated. They were replaced by other legionnaires who proved themselves well in the 2018/2019 season - Deon Edwin and Maurice Creek, respectively, from "Khimik" from Yuzhne and "Kyiv-Basket". Earlier, ex-player of the national team of Ukraine Ruslan Otverchenko joined the team.

PrometeyThe new 2020 "Prometey" began with home victories over "Zaporizhzhia" and "Nikolaev". However, the team failed to find stability. Bright victories, such as in the away math over the leader "Dnipro", alternated with afflictive defeats. One of such failures in the beginning of March, when in the last seconds the match in Nikolaev was lost, led to dismission of Karlis Muizhnieks. Kyrylo Bolshakov became the acting head coach, Dmitry Markov and Sergey Alforov kept their positions in a coaching staff.

Prometey couldn’t hold a single match under the leadership of Kyrylo Bolshakov: exactly one week after the failure in Mykolayiv, on March 12, the Basketball Federation of Ukraine decided to end the championship ahead of schedule due to a coronavirus pandemic. The final places for the teams were assigned according to the tournament position at that time. Dnipro was declared the national champion, Kyiv-Basket won silver medals, and Prometey won bronze medals, winning exactly two-thirds of the matches at the end of the championship - 16 out of 24.

In the Cup of Ukraine, the team failed to reach the Final Four. In the 1/8 finals, “Prometey” easily proved its superiority over the representative of the High league BC "Novomoskovsk". In the quarterfinals, the draw determined BC Odessa as the Prometey's rivals. As in the 2018/2019 season, both cup matches with Odessa proceeded in a fierce fight, and again luck smiled on the Odessa club. In the first match at home, Kamyanske lost six points, and in Odessa in the regular time managed to play back this deficit. In overtime, Odessa won a ticket to the final, with the final defeat of five points, which was acceptable to them.

At the end of the season, the FBU determined the winners of the prizes for the best players in various roles. As a result, the best guard of the Super League was the captain of "Prometey" Denys Lukashov, and the center - Michael Myers. In addition, Denys Lukashov entered the history of "Prometey" as the first player of the club, who defended the honor of the national team of Ukraine in official matches. This happened in the qualification matches of the national team for Euro 2021 against the teams of Austria and Hungary.

LucashovThe main events of the summer off-season of 2020 were the signing a contract with a new head coach, Vitaliy Cherniy. A coach with experience in several clubs in the Superleague and the national team of Ukraine. The newcomers of the men's Prometey were players from other Ukrainian clubs with considerable experience of playing for the national team of Ukraine: center Viacheslav Petrov, forward Oleksandr Belikov, guard Maxym Lutsenko, as well as American legionnaires DJ Stephens and Marquis Reed. At that, the "king of dunks" DJ Stephens won the championship of Ukraine in the 2016/2017 season as part of the Kiev "Budivelnyk". All these performers, as well as Serhiy Pryimak, joined Denis Lukashov, Illia Sydorov, Michael Myers and Oleksander Antipov - players from the "bronze" team. Two weeks before the start of the championship, the Prometey’s roster was strengthened by the experienced guard of the national team of Ukraine Oleksandr Lypovyy, who returned to his homeland after several years of playing for Greek clubs.

The year 2021 on the Ukrainian basketball courts became the year of "Prometey", because our team became the strongest in the Superleague!

The path to the title of champion was very difficult for “Prometey”. For several months, the team clearly lacked stability, and the dramatic improvement in results was not affected by changes in its composition. Back in 2020, the club broke up with the Marquis Reed, and his position as an attacking defender was acquired by Rashad Vaughn, a shooter with the experience of the performance in the NBA. The front line was fortified by the experienced Sean Evans.

Ронен ГінзбургThe key events in the men's team took place in early April after "Prometey" successively stopped fighting in the FIBA ​​European Cup and the Ukrainian Cup. In the European tournament at the stage of 1/8 finals our team lost to Belgian "Mons" (before that they passed the group stage without defeats, beating compatriots from "Kyiv-Basket", Bulgarian "Rilsky Sportist" and Austrian "Kapfenberg"), and in the quarterfinals the second in the status domestic tournament - the capital's "Budivelnyk". After the away defeat in the Yuzhne in the Superleague, there were changes in the team's coaching staff: Vitaly Cherny was replaced by the Israeli specialist Ronen Ginzburg, under whose leadership the Czech club "Nymburk" repeatedly won the championship and the Cup of its country, and the Czech national team won the permit to the final part of the World Championship, and already after the appointment of Ronen to the post of head coach of "Prometey" - the 2020 Olympics. On the day of signing the contract with Ronen Ginzburg, "Prometey" won in Odessa, and only then under his direct leadership won 7 victories in 9 matches of the regular season, which remained until the start of the playoffs. The "red and whites" ended the first part of the championship with a home defeat by "Dnipro". This meant that in the four-round tournament "Prometey" finished in third place and in the quarterfinals he had to play with the "Khimik" from Yuzhne.

Our team obtained a "dry" victory in the quarterfinal series (3:0) thanks to two home victories (82:69 and 91:79) and one away (81:63). The semifinal series with Dnipro turned out to be one of the most exciting in the entire playoff stage. "Prometey" started it with a guest failure (63:72), but then managed to equalize the score in the Dnipro (98:85) and achieve two necessary victories at home (89:53 and 86:79). Illia Sydorov became the MVP of the semifinal series of the playoffs.

In the final, Prometey met BC Zaporizhzhia and in this series the team was led by Ronen Ginzburg's first assistant Milenko Bogicevic, as the head coach of Prometey, in accordance with the contract with the Czech Basketball Federation, left for the national team of this country to prepare for qualification 2020 Olympics.

Prometey

Both Milenko Bogichevich and all the players of "Prometey" did their best in the decisive matches of the season. Two convincing victories were won in Kamyanske (85:57 and 79:54), and on June 14 a real thriller unfolded in Zaporizhzhia. In the course of the third match of the series "Prometey" lost 19 points, but managed to brilliantly spend the second half of the meeting and snatch a historic victory - 88:83! Rashad Vaughn scored 30 points in this match, and became the MVP of the final series, and in addition to Rashad, the historical "gold" of "Prometey" was brought by the following basketball players: Denys Lukashov, Illia Sydorov, Viacheslav Petrov, DJ Stephens, Michael Myers, Sean Evans, Olexksandr Lypovyy, Oleksandr Belikov, Maxim Lutsenko.

In the summer of 2021, the main event in the life of "Prometey" was the relocation of the club from Kamyanske to the urban-type settlement Slobozhanske due to a conflict with the mayor of Kamyanske. Now the team will represent Dnipropetrovsk region. President of Prometey Volodymyr Dubynskyi commented on the move as follows:

"We will be located in Slobozhanske, represent the region, create children's schools in it. We are sure that we will not lose those fans in Kamyanske who attended the team's games, although what happened is a tragedy for me personally."

The 2021/2022 season has started for Prometey with the qualification of the Champions League and the Super Cup of Ukraine. Our team coped with two tasks at once brilliantly: first in the Bulgarian capital Sofia they won a ticket to the group round of the Champions League, becoming the first Ukrainian team to overcome the qualification stage, and then won the second trophy in its history! On the way to the group round of the Champions League “Prometey” first defeated the hosts - Levski Lukoil in the quarterfinals - 96:56, in the semifinals the Czech Opava was beaten – 100:76, and on September 18, 2021 in a tense decisive match “Promerey” overcame the Russian Parma "- 67:65.

Four days after this historic success, "Prometey" in the rank of the current champion of Ukraine in a bright match with a gradient to attacking basketball defeated the winner of the National Cup Kiev "Budivelnyk" - 104:99 and for the first time in its history became the winner of the Ukrainian Super Cup! Illia Sydorov became the MVP of the final match.

 

In the Windrose Superleague regular season Prometey won 25 consecutive matches. In the Champions League, Ronen Ginzburg's team obtained victories in the matches against the Italian "Sassari" and the German "Ludwigsburg". And then there was an unforgettable play-in series with the Israeli Hapoel. In the first match, our team conceded 25 points. In the second match, "Prometey" created a miracle with the hands of Chris Dowe, who performed a crazy three-pointer in the last second of overtime and brought our team the victory. A day later, "Prometey", already on the road, played the decisive match of the series, where they obtained victory and reached the TOP-16 of the Champions League! There, two weeks later, Chris Dowe gave the team another fantastic victory (against Unicaja), hitting a 3+1 with 7 seconds left in the fourth quarter, when our team was behind by 3 points!

 

However, winning streak was not destined to continue due tdue to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022. In addition to the TOP-16 of the Champions League, at that time "Prometey" was in first place in the Windrose Superleague standings and reached the Final Four of the Ukrainian Cup. On March 5, 2022, the president of SC "Prometey" Volodymyr Dubinsky announced the dissolution of all the club's teams and the refusal of the men's basketball team to participate in the Champions League.

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