BC "Prometey" - BC "Kyiv-Basket" - 81:69 (19:13, 18:24, 19:19, 25:13). December 19. Windrose Superleague. 12th tour. Slobozhanske. SC Slobozhansky. 550 spectators.
Judges: Yevhen Nagorny, Serhiy Zashchuk, Serhiy Tchaikovsky.
BC Prometey: Lypovyy * (3), Kennedy * (18 + 17 rebounds + 4 assists), Harrison * (16), Bilan * (15), Sydorov * (4), Lukashov, captain (8), Evans (6), Dowe (7), Petrov (2), Mishula (0), Belikov (2).
BC "Kyiv-Basket": Woodson * (7 + 6 assists), Swing * (13 + 8 assists), Voynalovich * (7), Washington * (14), Skapintsev * (10 + 7 rebounds), Thomson (1) , Garrett (9 + 7 rebounds), Tirtishnik, captain (5), Anikienko (3), Ivanov (0).
The final game week of the calendar year (several more postponed matches will be played before the New Year) was closed by a face-to-face match between Prometey and Kyiv-Basket. It clearly made this match the central one in the tour. In terms of internal intrigue, this confrontation lived up to all expectations, as it kept both participants and spectators in tense until the last minutes of the final quarter.
In the debut of the match, the rivals exchanged two "dry" jerks. "Prometey" had more significant one (11:0 against 5:0 by the capital club). Miro Bilan scored 7 points. Ainars Bagatskis reacted to this productive series of hosts with three substitutions (players of the starting five were replaced by James Thomson, Konstantin Anikienko and Illia Tirtyshnyk). The presence of Konstantin Anikienko allowed the guests to establish a balance in the fight on the backboards for a while (after a long break, the precedence of "Prometey" in the number of rebounds was significant) and did not let go of the team of Ronen Ginzburg. Moreover, at the end of the 12th minute, Kyiv equalized the score (Jordan Swing), and in four minutes drew a 9-point handicap. At that moment, Kyiv-Basket forward Gelan Washington had 14 points, but after that he did not score at all.
Prometey completely eliminated their lag in the last minute of the quarter with a hit by Sean Evans from the "paint", and at the start of the third ten minutes rivals used the "long-range artillery": from the "red and white" DJ Kennedy scored twice from the perimeter, from the opponents - Swing and Andriy Viynalovich. Approximate equality of forces was observed throughout the quarter, as evidenced was the score on the scoreboard before the last break - 56:56.
The necessary aggression in all phases of the game has brought for Prometey the twentieth consecutive success in the Championship. As for defensive actions, the players of our team forced their opponents to throw from awkward positions and lose the ball in attack. These losses were then converted into the effectiveness of the hosts of the court into a quick attack. The fact that in the first five minutes of the quarter the guests scored only two points from the game turned out to be absolutely natural. In the attack, the "red and whites" did not turn off after their unsuccessful throws, boldly and successfully went for rebounds on the opponent’s backboard.
The last two minutes were decisive in the match. They started with a score of 68:63 in favor of "Prometey", and continued with an optional foul by the center of "Kyiv-Basket" Dmitry Skapintsev and two unsuccessful attacks from the perimeter by Derril Woodson. Ainars Bagatskis' wards committed tactical fouls, but our guys punished the opponent with unmistakable free throws (Denys Lukashov, Oleksander Belikov, D'Angelo Harrison).
"Prometey" won 81:69 and began preparations for the final match of the group stage of the Champions League, that takes place on Tuesday, December 21, in Germany, where our team will be hosted by "Riesen Ludwigsburg".
