BC "Riesen Ludwigsburg" (Germany) - BC "Prometey" (Ukraine) - 60:71 (20:12, 14:19, 11:28, 15:12). December 21. Champions League. Group stage. Group "A". 6th tour. Ludwigsburg. "MHP Arena".
BC Riesen Ludwigsburg: Olkins * (1), Radebo * (12 + 7 rebounds + 3 assists), Wolfart-Bottermann * (6), Bartolo * (3 + 3 assists), Simon * (17), Hertsog (2), Jacob Patrick (6), Johannes Patrick (2), Beret (3), Woodard (8), Ugbo (0).
BC Prometheus: Lypovyy * (8), Evans * (6 + 10 rebounds), Bilan * (10), Harrison * (15), Dowe * (17 + 6 assists), Sydorov (9), Lukashov, captain (0), Petrov (6), Belikov (0).
The fact that "Prometey" ended the Champions League group stage with an away match against the winner of our group, the German club "Riesen Ludwigsburg", clearly testified in favor of the fact that it would be difficult to imagine a better match for even greater self-affirmation and strengthening the authority of our team in the Euro arena. Moreover, it must be frankly admitted that Ronen Ginzburg's team lacks such a level of confrontation in the Superleague now.
In terms of their further game progress, the "red and whites" today took another confident and significant step forward. They were able to become the strongest in the confrontation, that was full of sharp plot twists. It all started with the starting jerk of the hosts, who offered our team a high pace and in the 4th minute managed to lead 10:4. With the siren for the break after an accurate throw from the perimeter of Jacob Patrick, the handicap of the German team was increased by 2 points - 20:12. At the same time, one of the main basketball qualities of "Ludwigsburg" - long throws - practically did not work: it was only the 2nd successful attempt to throw from behind the arc out of 9.
The third accurate shot by John Patrick's team from the perimeter came at the start of the second quarter (John Radebo), after which "Ludwigsburg" reached its biggest gap in this match - 11 points. "Prometey" quickly reduced the gap. If our team did not hit from afar in the starting ten minutes, then the account of long throws was opened by Oleksander Lypovyy and Illia Sydorov, and for Illia at this time it was 4 hits from the game out of 4. Throughout the second quarter, "Prometey" tried to catch up with the opponent, but before the long break Ronen Ginzburg's wards did not succeed, although in this quarter our team established their dominance in the fight on the backboards, after which, like in the starting ten minutes, these indicators were equal.
The pursuit of "Prometey" bacame successful already after fifteen minutes of rest. The third quarter of the team's performance turned out to be incredible! In the middle of it, the guys managed three long throws in a row (two - performed by Chris Dowe, with after the second Chris realized a bonus penalty, and one - Viacheslav Petrov), after which the handicap of "Prometey" rose to 14 points and was recorded on this marks with a siren for the last break!
However, in the last ten minutes, apparently, fatigue affected the performance of "red and whites" – as, after all, they held the fifth match in three days. For more than 7 minutes, Ronen Ginzburg's wards could not hit the basket of the hosts, allowing them to get closer to three points (59:56). Chris Dowe and Miro Bilan, who completed the finish after D'Angelo Harrison's pass, scored the most important goals. Once again in this season, our team showed a steely character and completely beat the opponent in the last three minutes of the match!
Prometey has finished its first group tournament with a 50 percent victory and now is waiting for their play-off opponent. It will be either the Israeli "Hapoel" from Jerusalem or the Turkish "Pinar Karsiyaka".
