BC "Opava" (Czech Republic) - BC "Prometey" - 78:100 (13:33, 29:24, 20:24, 16:19). September 16. Sofia (Bulgaria). "Arena Armiets Sofia". Champions League qualification. 1/2 final. Without spectators.
Senior Judge: Boris Krejić (Slovenia); Judges: Zdravko Rutesic (Montenegro), Vladimir Yetrovic (Serbia).
BC "Opava": Shirzhina *, captain (15), Gnyadek * (8), Marcusson * (12 + 13 rebounds), Svandrlik * (6), Slavik * (9), Dragun (0), Klechka (5), Yurechka (7), Zbranek (12), Kuril (2 + 6 assists), Kvapil (2), Palenik (0).
BC "Prometheus": Sydorov * (4 + 4 assists), Evans * (20 + 3 interceptions), Dowe * (13 + 4 assists), Harrison * (33 + 8 rebounds), Stephens * (6 + 5 assists) , Lukashov, captain (6), Tikhonov (0), Campbell (3), Petrov (5), Lypovyy (0), Klimov (0), Belikov (10).
Numerous predictions on the eve of the semi-final match of the Champions League with the participation of our "Prometey" mostly came down to the fact that the confrontation with the Czech "Opava" will be more problematic for our team than with the Bulgarian champion "Levski Lukoil". The composition of our team looks more convincing than that of the silver medalist of the Czech championship, but "Opava" differs first of all by organized basketball, which is quite difficult to resist. Furthermore, on some grounds it could be judged that the team of Peter Chudek is approaching the season in a good condition. For example, in one of the pre-season matches they beat the Polish "Zelena Gura", a member of the VTB United League.
As a result, the Czech club put more tense resistance to Prometey than Levski Lukoil, but it still was not enough to prevent the Red and Whites from taking a step towards the qualifying final. In the first quarter, our guys simply stunned the Czech team. After 5 minutes of the match, they led 16: 7 (7 points at this time were in the assets of D'Angelo Harrison and 6 - Sean Evans), and in the next 5 minutes they almost unmistakably threw from the perimeter, making during a quarter 7 attempts out of 10 (!). This effectiveness allowed our team to take the first break with a handicap of two dozen points.
But the first three minutes of the second quarter were marked by an impressive jerk of "Opava" - 15: 3. Our guys did not allow their rivals to get closer due to a difficult throw from under the ring by Alexander Belikov and four consecutive points by Sean Evans.
From the second half of this quarter, "Prometey" began to keep their difficult opponent at a distance of "10+", and in the 25th minute after a long throw by D'Angelo Harrison, our team increased the lead to 20 points (70:50). The 15 minutes left until the final siren, "Prometey" spent quite stably from a position of strength, managed to score 100 points (with 33 (!) - in the assets of D'Angelo Harrison), and confidently won a ticket to the final of the previous stage of the Champions League.
On September 18, our team in the fight for a place in the group tournament of the League will meet the winner of the match "Le Mans" (France) - "Parma" (Russia), which will end late tonight.
