BC “Prometey” – BC “Paris Basketball” (France) – 79:96 (22:17, 19:31, 19:27, 19:21). November 1. BKT EuroCup. 5 round. Riga (Latvia). “Arena Riga”.
BC “Prometey”: Agada* (8 + 8 rebounds), Kelly* (4), Tkachenko* (2), Keene* (8), Odiase* (6 + 9 rebounds), Sydorov, captain (0), March (23), Bobrov (0), Balvin (9), Sanon (11), Petrov (8), Voinalovych (0).
BC “Paris Basketball”: Shorts* (11 + 6 rebounds), Herrera* (6), Ward* (9), Kratzer* (12 + 11 rebounds), Jantunen* (15), Hifi (20), Malkolm (8), Bandja Sy (3), Kessens (2), Ngouama (10 + 3 steals), Denis (0), Diawara (0).
In the match of the BKT EuroCup 5 round, “Prometey” hosted at Arena Riga the leader of group A, French “Paris Basketball”. The club from the capital of France has earned its position atop the tournament standings due to their effective play in victorious duels. As for “Prometey”, the “titans” could not boast of this even in the previous matches, where they succeeded.
However, the successful opposition to such a formidable rival, who is considered by many experts as one of the EuroCup favourites, could give “Prometey” so needed boost. Our team’s performance in the debut of the match gave a significant reason for optimism. The team demonstrated its inherent aggression in defence and fast basketball, the guests not always was able to cope with. Several steals on both sides of the court resulted in scored points. Another reason for optimism based on the fact that 7 players of our team at once excelled with scored points. It allowed to take the lead in 8th minute by 13 points – 20:7. However, yet before the first break, “Paris” managed to respond with a considerable run 10:2.
The guests did not stop on it and, in 17th minute, took the lead after a long pause. The guards of the French club – TJ Shorts and Nadir HIFI – were always in the foreground. Absolutely logically, “Paris Basketball” won the first half – 48:41.
In the middle of the third quarter, the “titans” lad reached a threatening point – “-18”. At this moment, the guests were surpassing “Prometey” in accuracy of both two-pointers and three-point shots. Our team was kept in game thanks to productiveness of Ronald March (18 points in 30 minutes and 4 of 6 three-pointers) and Issuf Sanon (11 points). But it was an extremely hard task to win back 15 points at once during the last ten-minute segment.
Unfortunately, necessary “explosion” from the “red-and-white” side never happened. A defeat with a score of 79:96, which cannot be called the fatal one though – there are still 14 matches of the regular championship ahead.
