BC "Umana Reyer Venice" - BC "Prometey" - 71:75 (19:14, 17:16, 13:24, 22:21). December 21. 7DAYS EuroCup group tournament. Group A. 9th round. Venice (Italy). "Palasport Giuseppe Taglierico".
BC "Umana Reyer Venice": Willis* (4), Moraschini* (9), Watt* (6), Granger* (5), Spissu* (7 + 3 assists), Freeman (11), Brooks (13 + 8 rebounds), Parks (4), Tessitori (3), De Nicolao (7), Sima (2).
BC "Prometey": Kennedy* (15 + 5 assists + 5 steals), Hogue* (3), Stephens* (13 + 10 rebounds), Lukashov*, captain (2), Sanon* (1), Agada (13 + 9 rebounds + 4 assists), Lypovyy (2), Balvin (18 + 8 rebounds), Clavell (4), Tkachenko (2), Petrov (0), Dickey (2).
The Final tour of the 7DAYS EuroCup first round started the day before with a confident victory of Italian “Brescia” over Turkish “Bursaspor”. This success of the Italians much sharpened the fight for the tickets to the play-off in our group. Therefore, today’s road confrontation of “Prometey” with another Italian club , “Reyer Venice”, was very important for “red and white” because the ninth team of the Group A “Cluj-Napoca” was just one victory behind them. The fact, that the best offense of the group (“Prometey”) opposed the best defense (“Reyer Venice”), gave an additional interest to this match.
The hosts of the court started the confrontation more confidently. In 6th minute, their advantage even reached two-digit (15:5). Unlike the match against “Cluj-Napoca”, three-point shots did not work for “Prometey”. Even the fact, that the opponent was inferior in the fight under the backboards (11 rebounds to 8 in the starting quarter), could not compensate this downside. However, before the first break, “red and white” cut out their lag in half 14:19.
In the second quarter, the players of our team continued making inaccurate shots from the perimeter. You can hardly remember the match when our team did not hit a single from the perimeter during 20 minutes. At the same time, the guests made 10 such throws. The players of “Venice” also had a very mediocre accuracy percentage of long-range shots; that is why they did not managed to make a break out before the long break.
The third quarter turned the course of the game to the desired direction. In 23th minute Caleb Agada, who is finally back to the team, hit the opponent’s basket from the perimeter. A bit later, Caleb brought “Prometey” ahead after the throws from the free-throw line (41:40). After that, our team did not lose the lead until the final siren. Four minutes before the end of the quarter, it already led “+10” due to the spurt 11:0 that was arranged in several minutes.
Before the last break, “Venice” managed to half the gap and the main events happened on the court on the last minute. Two and a half minutes before the end of the match Italian club was behind by 11 points; however, 51 seconds before the final siren, Walter De Raffaele’s team, after three-pointer by Jeff Brooks, got closer to “Red and white” by one possession (69:72).
The last game segment included a great number of events. For example, Caleb Agada and DJ Kennedy made two inaccurate throws each from the free-throws line. Despite that, they played a great game overall. 21 second before the final siren, “Venice” leader Marco Spissu made his team's deficit minimal (71:72). But after 12 second he left the court due to his 5th foul made on DJ Stephens. DJ managed both free throws, after which the Italians still had time for the last attack. Our guys played great defense, forcing Brooks to shoot from the arc. The hosts’ forward did not hit the rim, which by and large meant the victory of "Prometey".
Our team win with the score 75:71 and, on positive note, finished the 7DAUS EuroCup first round.
Natural mineral water "Vytautas" is the official hydration partner of BC "Prometey".
