BC Prometey (Ukraine) - BC Unicaja (Spain) - 70:69 (17:14, 17:13, 20:19, 16:23). February 8. Champions League. Second group round. Group "K". 3rd tour. Zaporizhzhia. Palace of Sports "Yunist".
Referees: Aleksandar Zhishic(Serbia), Tomas Yasevicius (Lithuania), Blaz Zupanic (Slovenia)
BC Prometey: Lukashov, captain (6), Kennedy * (10 + 7 rebounds + 6 assists), Bilan * (5), Dowe * (19 + 7 rebounds), Stephens * (1), Lypovyy (6), Belikov (0), Harrison (19 + 3 steals), Petrov (4), Mishula (0).
BC Unicaja: Diaz * (2), Guerrero * (6 + 7 rebounds), Abromaytis * (9 + 8 rebounds), Brizeula * (24), Barreiro * (2), Kravic (0), Buteille (8 + 3 assists), Suarez, captain (0), Mooney (13 + 3 assists), Alonso (5), Nsosa (0).
Prometey is the last of the 16 best teams in the Champions League to fight for a place in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The one-week playoff series with Israeli Hapoel and the postponement of the match against Romanian club Cluj-Napoca due to quarantine restrictions prevented them from playing in the first two rounds. Thus, the home match of the third round of the second group round with the Spanish "Unicaja" opened this part of the competition for the champion of Ukraine.
The opponent of our team arrived in Zaporizhzhia, having a home defeat from "Cluj-Napoca", and therefore a possible failure greatly worsened the team's prospects. Their results in the domestic championship in general testified to significant game problems, and "Prometey" could not help but break out of the necessary rhythm after a week's game break. All this had a negative effect on the quality of team play. None of them managed to reach the mark of at least 40 percent of hits from the game. As for "Unicaja", this indicator in the starting quarter generally fluctuated around 20+. Prometey looked better than their opponent for at least 30 minutes. Our team confidently won the starting five minutes (11:4), while Chris Dowe scored 7 points at once.
In the second ten minutes, "Unicaja" thanks to several hits from the middle distance of Axel Buteille began to improve the percentage of two-point shots and several times even took the lead, but the champion of Ukraine managed a great 10:0, which allowed to "keep" this quarter for themselves.
After a long break with a score of 37:29 in favor of "Prometey" Dario Brisuele succeeded to perform two consecutive accurate shots from the perimeter, but before the last break, the "red and whites" managed to regain the handicap "+8". The final ten minutes was another test of the character of Ronen Ginzburg's team in the Champions League. Thanks to good work on the backboards, the Spaniards were able not only to close the gap, but also to move forward. Unicaja was very close to victory, leading by three points in the last minute, but made several key mistakes in the final minutes of this intense match, which were used by "red and whites" just brilliantly! Initially, the Spaniards lost the ball in the attack, leaving "Prometey" the right to 15 seconds of last possession. After that, having one tactical foul in reserve, the guests did not foul on Chris Dowe, and our great defender made another crazy three-point shot, and even forced the opponent to foul on him!
"3 + 1" by Chris became winning for "Prometey"! "Unicaja", which had 7 seconds on their last attack, took a throw from the perimeter of Carlos Suarez, but the captain of "Unicaja" made a mistake. "Prometey" has achieved another success in the Champions League, but the day after tomorrow they will have a difficult away match with the Belgian "Ostende".
