BC "Prometey" — BC "Dnipro" - 64:65 (8:16, 22:14, 16:27, 18:8).
Cup of Ukraine. Final. Kyiv. March 10. SP "Veneto".
"Prometey": Klevzunyk (12 + 9 rebounds), Kleban (9 + 4 rebounds), Mykyta Bezyma (2), Klimov (13 + 5 rebounds + 3 assists), Petrenko (0) — starting five; Holovchyk, captain (12 + 4 assists), Bublyk (6), Sandul (0), Shavharov (8 + 3 assists), Maksym Bezyma (2).
"Dnipro": Bondarchuk (7), Timofeienko, captain (4), Konev (9 + 6 rebounds), Zakurdaev (22), Horobchenko (8 + 3 assists) — starting five; Vilkhovetskyi (5), Koldomasov (2), Tarasenko (0), Dubonenko (6), Sypalo (2), Sorochan (0).
In the decisive match of the Cup of Ukraine, two undefeated teams of the current season - our "Prometey" and "Dnipro" clashed with each other. Their total winning streak was 57 matches, 30 of which (27 in the High League championship and 3 in the Cup) belonged to Oleksandr Pashchenko's team. Fairly saying, the team of Dnipro once suffered a defeat in the Superleague - against "Budivelnyk" - but later that capital club withdrew from the tournament, so Volodymyr Koval's has “zero” in the "Defeats" column.
Since the geographical neighbours (the final of the second most prestigious national tournament turned into a derby of Dnipropetrovsk region) today represent different divisions, many experts gave the status of this confrontation favourite to "Dnipro". The experience of most of its players spoke in favour of Dnipro. For example, the team’s captain, Stanislav Tymofeenko and current player of the Ukrainian National team Volodymyr Konev in different years became the MVP of the Cup of Ukraine final match.
The beginning of the match was nervous on both sides: the score was opened only in the 3rd minute (dunk by Volodymyr Konev). At first, the teams constantly took turns in the status of leader, but at the same time, "Dnipro" was the first team to managed to cope with their nerves. The "titans" were significantly inferior to the opponent in terms of the quality of the field shots (8 percent of accuracy against the opponent's 40 in the first 10 minutes). The leader of the Superleague won a low-scoring first quarter with a double advantage - 16:8.
The "titans" started solving their problems in the second ten-minute period, improving their shots from the field. The fact that even before the long break, Mykhailo Horobchenko, the main number one of "Dnipro", received 4 fouls, was a positive moment for our team. In the 16th minute, after his own interception, Maksym Bezyma tied the score with a spectacular dunk (19:19). The scoreboard also showed a tie score (30:30) based on the results of the first half of the game.
After the long break, "Dnipro" powerfully spent the first minutes of the quarter N3, mainly thanks to the efforts of its most experienced players - Koneva and Timofeenko. At the equator of the ten-minute segment, handicap of the team from Dnipro reached a double-digit for the first time in the match (46:36). The same flag in favour of "Dnipro" (57:46) were also recorded before the last break.
According to this course of the game, the opponent's advantage could be considered as comfortable. Ultimately, the third ten-minute segment decided the fate of the entire match. In the final quarter, the “titans” scored their first points only in the 34th minute (Denys Klevzunyk). At the end of the match, the intrigue reached its maximum thanks to two consecutive three-pointers by Mykhailo Bublyk, after which Dmytro Holovchyk increased our team's spurt to 8:0. In the last minute, Ihor Klimov reduced the deficit of "Prometey" to a minimum (64:65) with a crazy three-pointer. Ihor could have become the real hero of this exciting confrontation, but he did not hit a buzzer from the centre of the court.
"Dnipro", for the fifth time in its history, won the Cup of Ukraine. As for "Prometey", the team deserved the kindest words for this honorary fight for the trophy, as they reached the decisive match, kicking out two Superleague clubs at once from their path and playing on equal footing with its leader!
