BC "Prometey" - BC "Promitheas Patras" (Greece) - 80:57 (25:16, 18:13, 19:11, 18:17). April 19. 7DAYS EuroCup. 1/4 finals. Riga (Latvia). "Arena Riga".
BC "Prometey": Tkachenko* (6), Balvin* (7 + 8 rebounds), Clavell* (14), Agada* (5 + 7 assists + 3 steals), Stephens* (17), Lypovyy (10), Sanon (7), Dickey (4), Sydorov (8), Petrov (2).
BC "Promitheas Patras": Cowan* (8 + 4 assists), Kulboka* (6), Simpson* (2), Mouratos* (0), Hogue* (2), Thomasson (15), Conditt IV (8), Dangubic (4), Tsairelis (8), Gkikas (0), Tanoulis (4).
The first stage of the EuroCup playoffs was without any sensations. In seven pairs out of eight, the winners were more ranked teams. At the same time, there were not any devastating resulting scores recorded with a precedence of one of the team by “20+”. The fight on the quarterfinal confrontations promised to be even hotter. A clear advantage could be given to one of the opponents, to Spanish team, only in one pair – “Gran Canaria” – “Paris Basketball”. In the other matches, approximately equal by class teams should have opposed each other.
In European basketball hierarchy, Greek “Promitheas Patras” belongs to the teams of a higher level than “Hamburg Towers”. However, experts gave a slight preference to Ukrainian club. A one-week break between the official EuroCup playoff matches should definitely had helped our team. To compere, between April 1 and 11, Ronen Ginzburg’s team played 5 matches, which could not contribute to their freshness in any way.
The participation of Caleb Agada was even more vital bonus for “Prometey”. Caleb came out on the court in the starting five and, together with his teammates, started with a 5-0 spurt within first two minutes. In the debut of the confrontation, the hosts of the court succeeded, first of all, in defensive actions. This was evidenced by 4 missed points within first 5 minutes and 16 points as for results of the first quarter. Yet before the first break, “Prometey” for the first time in the match reached a handicap of “10+”.
In offence, “red and white” carefully prepared an opportunity for a decisive shot in every offensive action and significantly surpassed the opponent in the fight under the backboards. Smart team actions allowed “Prometey” to dominate on a constant basis, and Ivan Tkachenko, losing his balance, put a spectacular end – 43:29 in favour of “titans”.
After a 15-minute break, “Prometey” continued dominating. Their advantage in rebounds was just impressive (33 against 17 after 30 game minutes). Our team did not allow opponents to lead in score even once in this match. When the advantage of “red and white” in score, yet in the third ten-minute segment, reached two dozen points, absolutely everything became clear in this confrontation.
After “Budivelnyk" Kyiv, “Prometey” became the second Ukrainian club to reach the semi-final stage of the EuroCup. On April 26, at Arena Riga, they will play against Turkish club “Turk Telekom”, which defeated today “Ratiopharm Ulm” from Germany with a score of 86:76.
Natural mineral water "Vytautas" is the official hydration partner of BC "Prometey"
