BC “Prometey” – BC “Aris” (Greece) – 95:67 (28:17, 23:15, 21:18, 23:17).
March 6. BKT EUroCup. 1/8 finals. Riga (Latvia). “Arena Riga”.
BC “Prometey”: Agada (16 + 4 assists), Clavell (16), Odiase (7), Kennedy (6), Tkachenko (16) – starting five; Balvin (12 + 9 rebounds + 4 assists), Lypovyy (0), Sanon (5), March (15 + 7 assists), Lukashov (2), Bobrov (0).
BC “Aris”: Toliopoulos (13 + 5 assists), Harrell (20 + 9 rebounds + 4 assists), Blumbergs (5), Bankston (6), Bochoridis (5) – starting five; Slaftsakis (0), Stark (4), Sanogo (6), Katsivelis (3), De Sousa (5), Kalogiros (0).
"Prometey" started the decisive part of the season with the match of the BKT EuroCup playoffs first round against "Aris" Greece. At that, today's possible failure (the opponent was under the same circumstances) meant the end of participation in the tournament, and the victory - gave a berth to the quarterfinal stage.
Last season, in the quarterfinal, another Greek club, “Promitheas” was the opponent of the “titans”. Today's "Aris", in terms of its status in Greek basketball and the play level can be compared with "Promitheas" of recent years, but a year ago, our team was much more convincing in the regular season. Despite this fact, according to a large number of experts, our team considered the favourite of the confrontation.
As if confirming this, the "titans" started the match powerfully - 10:2 within the first 3 minutes of the match, and in this short opening period, Caleb Agada recorded 8 points at once (!) in his asset. "Aris" quickly gave the answer and finished the first five minutes with just a "-2" lag.
However, Ronen Ginzburg's team did not lose the initiative. Another 7:0 spurt laid the foundation of their victory in the starting quarter, and Gian Clavell put the end in it with a spectacular three-point shot - 28:17.
Long-range offensives worked for our team perfectly in the first half of the game: after the 4th team hit out of 8 by Ronald March, the home team’s advantage reached 16 points - 34:18. At the end of the quarter, our team’s players made a lot of turnovers, although the opponent was not able to take advantage of all of them. In defence, it was incredibly difficult for Ioannis Kastritis’s squad to cope with the speed of the "red-and-white", who, in addition, continued scoring from behind the arc (6 shots out of 10 in 20 minutes) and had a significant advantage in the three-second zone. Back before the long break, the handicap of the Ukrainian club was over two dozen points.
During the long break, in their flash interviews, Ondrej Balvin and Ronen Ginsburg emphasized that the team should not lose the pace in the second half of the game. In basketball, such wishes often do not become reality, but today "Prometey" kept absolutely everything on the court under control.
Our team was stronger than its opponent in each quarter and won with a total score of 95:67. Now, in the quarterfinals of the tournament in a week, it will have to play on the road against French "Bourg". As today, only the winner of this confrontation will continue the fight in the EuroCup.
