BC “Prometey” – BC “Wolves Vilnius” (Lithuania) – 91:64 (29:15, 20:14, 21:23, 21:12).
January 17. BKT EuroCup. Round 15. Riga (Latvia). Arena Riga.
BC “Prpmetey”: Agada (10 + 4 assists + 3 steals), Clavell (7), Balvin (5 + 6 rebounds), Kennedy (2) –starting five; Odiase (10), March (16), Tkachenko (5 + 5 rebounds), Sanon (10), Sydorov, captain (13), Bobrov (0). Lukashov (0).
BC “Wolves Vilnius”: Sulaimon (2), Mekowulu (6), Zemaitis (5), Taylor (18 + 7 rebounds + 3 assists), Brooks (14 + 6 rebounds) – starting five; Miniotas (0), Thurman (9 + 7 rebounds), Kariniauskas (0), Zukauskas (5), Berucka (2), Kozys (3).
The Round 15 of the BKT EuroCup in Group A was opened by the confrontation between "Prometey" and the Lithuanian club "Wolves Vilnius". For both teams, the match was of crucial importance. For the guests from Lithuania, this game was like a playoff match: the defeat practically left them out of the top six.
Both teams started the match quickly, on the top gear from the first seconds. They used a lot of options in the offensives, but “Prometey” looked better than their rival. Caleb Agada and Ondrej Balvin, who skipped the LEBL match against “Rigas Zelli”, took their places in the starting five. As for the visitors, they had 9 (!) turnovers at once within the first 7 minutes, which resulted in the significant advantage of the “titans” (21:9). Before the first break, Issuf Sanon, thanks to an excellent individual cut, increased his team's handicap even more - 29:15.
In the second quarter, Kestutis Kemzura’s team seemed to start finding their rhythm, although “Prometey” did not lose their initiative. The guests got overly nervous and, two minutes before the long break, got two technical fouls at once (Rasheed Sulaimon, who had just two points and the bench in his asset). Before the break, after the spectacular Balvin-Sydorov “two”, the handicap of "Prometey" extended to two dozen points - 49:29.
Within eight minutes of the third quarter, the Lithuanian club managed to halve its lag (50:60), but at the right moment, Oleksandr Lypovyy and Illia Sydorov scored their two-point shots, in addition Ronald March aced two consecutive triples, which allowed the team to break away from the opponent again before the final quarter (70:52).
At this point, even small intrigue in this confrontation faded away. “Prometey” confidently drove the match to the victory at the same time having eliminated one of the competitors from the battle for the playoff zone. However, this battle is not over yet. In a week, on January 24, in the capital of Serbia Belgrad, the “titans” play another very important match – against “Hapoel Tel Aviv” Israel.
