BC "Prometey" - BC "Ratiofarm Ulm" (Germany) - 105:106 (22:27, 21:26, 28:33, 34:20). November 30. 7DAYS EuroCup group tournament. Group A. 6th tour. Kaunas (Lithuania). "Zalgiris Arena".
BC "Prometey": Kennedy* (4 + 5 assists + 3 steals), Balvin* (2), Clavell* (34), Agada* (16), Stephens* (18), Lukashov, captain (0), Lypovyy ( 0), Tkachenko (3), Hogue (8 + 9 rebounds), Sanon (17), Sydorov (3).
BC "Ratiofarm Ulm": Jallow* (24), Christen* (14), Dos Santos* (26 + 10 assists), Klepeisz* (9), Bretzel* (17 + 5 rebounds), Hawley (4), Nunez ( 7), Zugic (5), Fuchs (0), Langenfeld (0).
The 6th tour of the 7DAYS EuroCup in Group A started the day before with matches of the leaders – “Joventut” and “Bourg” and also “Brescia” and “Reyer Venezia”. Following the results, “Bourg” took the leadership back (5 victories) and is followed by “Joventut” and “Venezia”. “Prometey” could catch these teams up in case of the victory over “Ratiopharm Ulm” on the court of “Zalgiris Arena” in Lithuanian Kaunas, which was dressed in yellow and blue colours of Ukrainian national flag.
The best club of our country faced an opponent similar to them in some basketball moments. “Ratiopharm Ulm” preaches rapid basketball using the athleticism of its players. Herewith, on the eve of the match, the head coach of “Prometey” Ronen Ginzburg emphasised the excellent shooters of the opponent. Snipers of German team worked perfect in the debut of the confrontation: first four three-pointers by the guests were accurate. “Ulm” center Nicolas Bretzel successfully acted in the start of the game. He hit from the arc and also was successful in our “paint” (9 points in total). “Prometey” was slightly worse in attack from long distance (4 accurate shots in the starting quarter, including by Illia Sydorov who is back to the team after his injury), however, our team mostly had to chase the squad of Slovak specialist Anton Gavel.
The second 10-minute segment was of a good quality for “Ratiopharm”. Herewith, not onlykept hitting from the perimeter but also were effective in the individual passes and highlighted with several wonderful combinations. A few times, guests’ handicap reached “10+”. Before the siren for the long break, it was 13 points, although, like in the match with “Cedevita Olimpija”, Gian Clavell singled out with a crazy buzzer-beater on the last second.
After the 15-minute break, unpleasant for “Prometey” moment appeared: because of injury the most productive player of the “red and white” Caleb Agada (16 points) left the court until the end of the match. Entire team were in searching for the own game: in the course of the quarter, the hosts of the court conceded to their rivals 18 points. Everything changed in the last quarter. During five and a half minutes, our team managed an incredible spurt 18:2. It allowed to take back the lead, which was lost in the first quarter. In this game segment Gian Clavell, Issuf Sanon and DJ Stephens were just unstoppable.
Unfortunately, this great comeback did not let “Prometey” celebrate success today. At the end of confrontation, very timely, German team hit twice from the perimeter. The rivals entered the last minute with “+4” in favour of “Ratiopharm”. However, “Prometey” was very close to victory due to unbelievable performance by Gian Clavell (34 points). First, he managed a three-pointer over the opponents’ hands (!) and then, his excellent individual pass helped “Prometey” take the lead back (105:104). Our opponent had 9 seconds for attack and they managed to use them. Two decisive points were acquired by two best players of “Ulm” - Yago dos Santos and Karim Jallow. The first one reached our “paint” and gave his partner the assist.
“Prometey” was inferior just by one point and, after this tour has 3 wins. Next Saturday, our team will hold a home match in another tournament, the LEBL. The opponent is Estonian club “TalTech”.
Natural mineral water "Vytautas" is the official hydration partner of BC "Prometey"
