BC “Valmiera GLASS VIA” (Valmiera, Latvia) – BC “Prometey” – 71:91 (23:18, 13:28, 17:23, 18:22). December 23. Latvian-Estonian basketball league Pafbet. Valmiera (Latvia). Olympic centre. 639 spectators.
BC Valmiera GLASS VIA”: Miglinieks* (4), Elksnis* (3 + 4 assists), Knight* (7), Zeliznak* (6 + 11 rebounds), Sipolins* (10 + 10 rebounds), Kaufmanis, captain (22), Karlsons (4 + 6 assists), Zrno (11), Gailiss (4), Greitans (0), Tokovenko (0), Zvinis (0).
BC “Prometey”: Agada* (5 + 7 rebounds + 9 assists + 3 steals), Lypovyy*, captain (4 + 10 rebounds), Gray* (11), Tkachenko* (5), Odiase* (9 + 4 rebounds), Balvin (16 + 10 rebounds), Bobrov (2), Kennedy (1), Sanon (26 + 7 rebounds), Clavell (9), Lukashov (3).
The calendar of the Latvian-Estonian league Pafbet scheduled for “Prometey” three rivals from the very bottom of the tournament standings at once in December. In the games against “Latvian University” and BC “Tallinn Kalev/SNABB”, “Prometey” had no problems. Vice versa, today’s confrontation in Latvian Valmiers against the local club “Valmiera GLASS VIA” turned out to be more complicated, although it resulted in another victory of the “titans” – 91:71.
In the first half of the game, the Latvian club managed to offer Ronen Ginzburg's team a decent resistance. In the opening quarter, "Valmiera" successfully responded to every productive attack of the visitors, and played the last minute before the first break brilliantly and went to rest with a 5-point handicap - 23:18. 6 seconds to go in the first quarter, the long-awaited comeback of DJ Kennedy after a half-year absence happened! In total, DJ had just 9 minutes of playing time in his debut match this season, scoring 1 point – it is obvious that our legionnaire is still only gaining his best condition.
In the second quarter, the hosts of the court did not get upset with a spurt 9:0 by our team. “Valmiera” managed to take the lead back and “Prometey” had to search for additional arguments. At that moment, success came to the “titans” in offensives from the perimeter (four in a row, three of which - by Gian Clavell). Tai Odiase timely supported the teammates with four scored points, which also helped “Prometey” to go for the long break with a more or less comfortable handicap of 10 points – 46:36.
“Prometey” managed to develop this advantage to 16 points in the third quarter, which allowed to keep calm before the fourth one. In the final ten-minute segment, the Ukrainian club calmly drove the match to a winning end. Now, the team is going to spend the next three days in worrys about the upcoming EuroCup match. On December 27, our team will host Slovenian “Cedevita-Olimpija” in Riga.
