BC "Prometey" - BC "Ogre" - 97:82 (20:20, 27:19, 28:21, 22:22). March 30. Latvian-Estonian basketball league Pafbet. Playoffs. 1/4 finals. 1st match. Riga (Latvia). Olympic Centre Rimi. 316 spectators.
BC "Prometey": March (18 + 9 rebounds + 4 assists + 2 steals), Lukashov (11 + 4 assists), Kennedy (9), Odiase (12), Bobrov (2) - starting five; Clavell (9 + 4 assists), Balvin (15 + 9 rebounds), Tkachenko (11), Sydorov, captain (4 + 5 assists), Sanon (6).
BC "Ogre": Dargais, captain (6 + 6 assists), Mediss (9), Zebergs (4), Misters (17 + 7 rebounds + 3 steals), Kulackovskis (10) - starting five; Apsitis (9), Lastins (0), Kampuss (2), Corum (9), Day (11), Jucikas (5), Atars (0).
"Prometey" and Latvian "Ogre" were the last ones to enter the fight for a berth to the semi-finals of the Latvian-Estonian league Pafbet. The day before, in all three confrontations, the hosting teams and at the same time teams with a higher seed number were stronger. Today, the "titans" were also in a trend, gaining a victory with a score of 97:82 over the opponent, which allowed them to open the score in the series up to two victories - 1:0.
In the beginning of the match, "Ogre" put up a worthy resistance to the Ukrainian club, twice leading in score by 5 points in the opening quarter. In this ten-minute segment, Uldis Svede's squad were just slightly inferior to the "titans" in the fight on the backboards and in passing the ball (10 rebounds against 12 and 3 assists against 5), instead, they surpassed them in the accuracy of shots from the field.
The first quarter ended in a 20:20 tie, and in the first five and a half minutes of the second one, Ronen Ginzburg's squad organized a wonderful 16:2 run (Ivan Tkachenko scored 6 points in this period). In response, "Ogre" managed to prevent the total dominance of Ronen Ginzburg's team. Before the long break with the buzzer, Karlis Apsitis scored from a distance, reducing deficit of his team to 8 points (39:47) and establishing parity in the accuracy of three-pointers (40 percent).
For almost the entire third quarter, the gap between the rivals was approximately the same, and before the last break, Denys Lukashov and Ronald March, from the perimeter, established a more or less comfortable "+15" for "Prometey" (75:60).
"Ogre" did not give up and during the final ten-minute segment reduced the lag once again, but 5 consecutive points by Denys Lukashov, apparently, finally removed all questions about who will advance in the series.
On April 3, the teams will play the second match in the series, where the status of the hosting team will belong to "Ogre".
