BC “Prometey” - BC “Juventus” – 95:93 (23:18, 26:24, 25:24, 21:27)
September 9. Control match. Riga. Olympic centre “Rimi”.
BC “Prometey”: Reed, Keene, Sanon, Odiase, Kulboka – starting five; Sydorov (captain), Balvin, Lypovyy, Bobrov, Voinalovych, Belikov.
In its second match before the start of the 2023/2024 season, “Prometey” played against the representative of the elite Lithuanian league LKL. In the recent years, BC “Juventus” gained a deserved reputation with their ability to demonstrate a maximum possible result with a small budget. In the upcoming season, “Juventus” will try to fight in their national championship to enter the Top-4. But today, they were tested by the EuroCup semi-finalist of the 2022/2023 season.
From the first seconds of the match, the coaching staff of the "titans" released on the court the same starting five as three days ago. Another analogy with the confrontation with "Siauliai" was two three-pointers by Issuf Sanon from the start. However, this moment did not allow the hosts to organize a spurt. The first five-minute segment ended in a tie (8:8). In the next two minutes, “Juventus” managed to make a jerk 7:2, after which Ronen Ginzburg had to take a time-out. A one-minute break was useful for “Prometey”: a productive individual drive by the new captain Illia Sydorov turned the lead back. The last minutes of the quarter were Illia’s minutes: an accurate three-point shot, successful actions on the backboard and super-pass to Ondrej Balvin. As a result, “-5” transformed into “+5” at the end of the quarter.
The debut of the second ten-minute segment was also under the complete dominating of Ukrainian club. At the 13th minute, "red-and-white" were leading by 13 points, delighting their fans with spectacular basketball. How great the alley-oop by Lypovyy-Odiase was! However, “Juventus” demonstrated it can resist a hit, turning back the intrigue in the match with their jerk. "-7" for "Juventus" according to the results of the first half of the game did not look like a catastrophic lag for Lithuanian team.
In the middle of the third quarter, the handicap of Ronen Ginzburg’s team turned back to the “10+” mark. These minutes, Marcus Keene was giving the needed energy to the team; however, “Juventus” did not let the “red-and-white” break away.
Despite the friendly status of the match, both teams desperately tried to win. 4 minutes and then 63 seconds before the final buzzer, the scoreboard showed a tie score – 84:84 and 89:89. During the last minute, the players of both teams took turns coming to the foul line. Illia Sydorov brought the winning points for “Prometey” – 95:93.
On September 12-13, “Prometey” awaits participation in the representative tournament Adam Wojcik Memorial in Polish city of Wroclaw.
