BC “Joventut Badalona” (Spain) – BC “Prometey” – 79:76 (15:26, 18:15, 29:20, 17:15). November 29. BKT EuroCup group tournament. Group A. 9th round. Badalona (Spain). Arena “Palau Olimpic de Badalona”.
BC “Joventut Badalona”: Andrews* (15), Feliz* (5), Ruzic* (9), Cook* (10), Kraag* (1 + 7rebounds), Tomic (0), Vives (6 + 5 assists), Ribas (14), Thomas (3), Busquets (6), Chery (3), Prey (7).
BC “Prometey”: Agada* (12), March* (15 + 4 rebounds), Gray* (2), Bobrov* (0), Balvin* (12 + 12 rebounds + 4 assists), Odiase (6), Sydorov, captain (8), Tkachenko (0), Sanon (15), Lypovyy (6).
With a road match against “Joventut Badalona”, “Prometey” capped the programme of the BKT EuroCup 9th round in group A. During the first half of the regular season tournament distance, it became obvious that only for German “Hamburg” and Slovenian “Cedevita Olimpija” it is difficult in our group to count on the entering the playoffs. That means, 8 other teams of the group including our “Prometey”, with different chances, will fight for the six cherished tickets. The importance of today’s possible success was obvious for Ronen Ginzburg’s squad: the Ukrainian team would significantly raise its tournament chances, including comparing to “Joventut”.
The debut of the match was promising. “Prometey” looked rather convincing – 14:4 in the 6th minute of the confrontation and 22:7 after another two minutes. At the same time, the hosts converted just one shot from game. Only before the first break, they started finding their pace. However, in this quarter, “Prometey” was stronger in all regards. Caleb Agada and Issuf Sanon (7 and 6 points respectively) brought half of the points scored in this game segment.
At the beginning of the quarter N2, “Joventut” slightly reduced its lag but “Prometey” quickly regained the lead after appearing on the floor of two our “bigs”, Tai Odiase and Ondrej Balvin, at the same time. Having “cemented” their own three-second zone, the “titans” made rivals to offense from a distance, but they did that with a mediocre percentage. However, Carles Duran’s team found potential to step up in the game and in the end of the quarter reduced their lag to two possessions. But the shot from the perimeter by Illia Sydorov served to extend it to three possessions. The teams went for the long break with a score of 41:33 in favour of “Prometey”.
After the rest, Pau Ribas managed to fire two three-pointers at once. And, at the end of the 24 minute, “Joventut” took the lead for the first time in this match (47:46). The first five minutes of the third quarter, the Spanish club won with a convincing score of 20:8. Now, “Prometey” had to respond appropriately and, after the accurate three-pointers by Oleksandr Lypovyy and Issuf Sanon, we could see a tie score on the scoreboard (57:57). The teams went for the last break with a minimal advantage of “Joventut” (62:61).
Of course, it was extremely difficult to predict the winner of this exciting confrontation.
200 seconds before the final buzzer, the scoreboard was demonstrating a tie score (74:74) and the game went into the clutch.
Unfortunately, with absolutely equal chances for success, in the end, “Joventut” celebrated its win – 79:76.
