BC "Prometey" - BC "Umana Reyer Venice" (Italy) - 93:76 (33:18, 13:25, 28:18, 19:15). March 29. 7DAYS EuroCup. Group round. Group A. Tour 18. Riga (Latvia). "Arena Riga".
BC "Prometey": Balvin* (14 + 9 rebounds), Tkachenko* (13), Clavell* (25), Agada* (11 + 4 assists + 4 steals), Stephens* (14), Lukashov, captain (4 + 5 assists), Lypovyy (2), Sanon (0), Dickey (2), Sydorov (8).
BC "Umana Reyer Venice": Willis* (4), Parks* (8), Watt* (10), Granger* (17 + 5 assists), Bramos* (4), Brooks (10), Moraschini (0), Tessitori (17), De Nicolao (0), Ray (6).
Success in the last match of the 7DAYS EuroCup regular season with Italian club “Umana Reyer Venice” meant for “Prometey” victory on the first stage of the tournament in their Group A. Exactly 10 years ago, another Ukrainian club, “Budivelnyk” Kyiv, had the same achievement. Herewith, the most titled club of Ukraine in 2012/2013 season was the winner of the group stage twice. However, with all respect to the capital club, “Prometey”, so far, approached a more significant success, as they covered longer tournament distance. Our team had to take the last step to winning the group against an opponent who also had a significant tournament motivation. Victory could allow Italians to hope for the success of Spanish “Joventut Badalona” in the confrontation against Lithuanian “Lietkabelis”. Such situation could secure “Venice” the advantage of home arena in the first round of the playoffs.
The rivals started fulfilling their plans straight away. Ivan Tkachenko, who replaced DJ Kennedy in the starting five, immediately scored 5 points for “Prometey” in the first two-minute segment. Caleb Agada also looked great at the start of the game. “Red and white” led in the score 9:4, after which the guest coach Neven Spahija took a one-minute break. However, “Prometey” continued playing inspired. Ivan Tkachenko played as if the match in Cluj has not ended for him. After his three-pointer at the beginning of the 6th minute, the handicap of the Ukrainian club exceeded the double-digit mark - 17:5. For the first break, the teams went for "+15" in favour of "Prometey". Oleksandr Lypovy, who corrected Illia Sydorov's airball, put an end in the quarter.
The opponent's response was searching for various game combinations. The guests managed to improve defensive actions, allowing “Prometey” to score only 4 points within first five minutes of the second quarter. However, they could just slightly get closer to our team. In the 17th minute, a very unpleasant moment happened for "Prometey": after an injury, Caleb Agada, who had a great start, had to go to the locker room. After a minute after this incident, “Venice” was inferior by just 5 points. Together with a siren for the long break, Jason Granger scored 2 points, after which the advantage of Ukrainian club was just one possession – 46:43.
In the middle of the third quarter, the handicap of “Prometey” was tripled – 63:54. Ronen Ginzburg’s team completely regained not only the needed rhythm but also the 15-point handicap like in the first quarter. It happened in the 28th minute. The final ten-minute segment, “Prometey” played very consistently, surpassing the rival in all regards.
The success of our team allowed them to get an advantage of home arena in all rounds of the playoffs except for the final one!
Natural mineral water "Vytautas" is the official hydration partner of BC "Prometey"
