BC "Prometey" - BC "Viimsi/Sportland" - 59:57 (17:10, 10:20, 14:18, 18:9). April 3. Latvian-Estonian basketball league Pafbet. 1/4 finals. 3rd match. Riga (Latvia). Olympic Centre Rimi. 129 spectators.
BC "Prometey": Tkachenko* (2), Balvin* (18 + 12 rebounds + 3 steals), Clavell* (8 + 4 assists), Lukashov*, captain (9), Stephens* (10 + 4 steals), Sydorov (2), Lypovyy (2), Sanon (4), Dickey (2), Petrov (2).
BC "Viimsi/Sportland": Harris* (6 + 9 rebounds + 5 assists), Toppin* (9), Lips* (15), Zakis* (12), Haller* (3), Hint (1), Post (11 + 5 steals), Rikberg (0).
The defeat of “Prometey” in the second quarterfinal match of the Latvian-Estonian league Pafbet turned the series with Estonian “Viimsi” to Riga. From now on, each match will be decisive one for Ukrainian club: any failure puts the end to performance in one of the tournaments – LEBL or 7DAYS EuroCup. Unfortunately, the fail in Viimsi made already tense schedule of the team, which lost two leaders – DJ Kennedy and Caleb Agada, much tougher. This state of affairs has just to be accepted. As for today’s confrontation, despite the last Saturday’s defeat, “Prometey” was still its clear favourite.
The teams has started the match with the same starting fives as it was two days ago. There was no doubt, that the players of Ukrainian club will have needed aggression. And already in 6th minute they reached a handicap of 8 points – 12:4. In this game segment, the advantage of “Prometey” over its opponent in an accuracy of throws from the game was just impressive – 60 against 10 (!). In their 3-second zone, the guests could do nothing against Ondrej Balvin. Within 8 minutes, Czech legionnaire of “Prometey” managed to score 8 points. James Dickey put the end of the starting quarter with a spectacular dunk – 17:10 in favour of “Prometey”.
In the debut of the second ten minutes, the players of "Viimsi", as in the second match, started succeeding in three-point shots (Haller, Zakis). This helped the opponents reduce their deficit to one possession - 16:19. “Prometey” turned back to “+7” with four straight points by Issuf Sanon, however, the opponent added some aggression in both “paints”. The primary merit for this belonged to the Latvian center of "Viimsi" Roland Zakis. At the beginning of the 17th minute, there was already just 1 point between the teams (23:22), and a minute after the "three-pointer" by Post, the number 5 of the guests, “Viimsi” took the lead for the first time in the match (27:25). The guests went for the long break in a status of the leader, having a handicap of 5 points shortly before the break.
After 15-minute break, Denys Lukashov took back the leadership for “Prometey” with two accurate shots from the arc. However, these local successes did not give a necessary impact for entire team straight away. For the last break, the opponents went with “-7” for “Prometey”.
At the beginning of the final quarter, Viacheslav Petrov refreshed the hosts of the court. A culmination of the game fell on the last two-minute segment. Out team was stronger in this clutch and obtained a hard-fought victory. The rival had equal chance for success, however, Zakis mistook along with a siren, making a very difficult attempt from the arc.
“Prometey” attained the second victory over “Viimsi” in the series and fought the last ticket to the LEBL Final Four.
Natural mineral water "Vytautas" is the official hydration partner of BC "Prometey"
