Facebook
Google"Ventspils" dominates for 3 quarters, holds off victory over "Buducnost"
@ciiruls
After six year break “Ventspils” players started their ULEB EuroCup season in the F group against the Montenegro champions “Buducnost” in the renovated Basketball hall of the Olympic Centre “Ventspils”. Keeping the Montenegrins at arm’s length and leading for the most time Ventspils team celebrated a victory with 82:75.
Starting fives:
Ventspils: Chatman, Ate, Barnies, Gulbis, Grant
Buducnost: Cook, Sehovic, Dasic, Planinic, Sheehey
At the very start of the game “Buducnost” was the first to score but henceforth Ventspils slowly started to dominate and step by step by step taking over the game process. In the 5th minute of the game after a nice and precise assist by Mire Chatman Harvey Grant scored a beautiful alley-oop, extending the lead by to three points and score afterwards being 14:11. The dominance of the hosts did not end there and few moment later the Ventspils lead by eight with score 23:15. Montenegrins didn’t give up, pulled closer but still ended the quarter losing by three, score 21:24.
Ventspils squad started the second quarter off great. Five minutes after the start of second quarter with score at 34:32 hosts made an impressive 13:0 run and suddenly the score was 47:32. Guests did score 2 more points in the quarter but Davis Lejasmeiers scored a long buzzer beater – three pointer as the time ran out extending Ventspils lead. Halftime score with Ventspils leading by 16, score 50:34.
After the half-time break men led by their coach Roberts Stelmahers were fighting for every centimetre on the court, holding off the rivals and extending the lead one point at a time. At the very start with the lead being +17, after Troy Barnies intercepted a bad pass, Akselis Vairogs caught up with him in transition, but a moment later Barnies scored himself and extended the lead to 20 points! “Buducnost” ended the quarter with two free throws, but still the score was in Ventspils’ favour – 52:70.
Guests spent the last 10 minutes of the game playing a completely different game than in the last two quarters. In first five minutes they made a 14:2 run, coming dangerously close – 66:72. Approximately 3 minutes before the end of the game Vladimir Dasic got his 5th foul that did not stop Harvey Grant to score two points with a foul, making Ventspils once again pull away from the rivals, extending the lead to 9 points. Guests once again pulled closer, losing just by one point – 74:75, but it did not help them, because with the support of their fans Ventspils team was able to hold off to the victory over “Buducnost” with numbers 82:75 on the scoreboard.
Ventspils’ Mire Chatman had a tremendous game by scoring 19 points, while the other 2 Americans - Harvey Grant and Troy Barnies - added 12 points each to their team’s victory. J.R Reynolds scored 18 points for “Buducnost” with Darko Planinic adding 13 points.
Ventspils - Buducnost 82:75 (24:21; 26:13; 20:18; 12:23)
Ventspils: Chatman 19, Barnies 12, Grant 12, Lejasmeiers 10, Meiers 10, Peiners 8, Gulbis 7, Vairogs 2 (6 rez.p.), Gražulis 2, Ate, Kanbergs
Buducnost: Reynolds 18, Planinic 13, Vitkovac 11, Sehovic 9, Cook 7, Capin 4, Subotic 4, Sheehey 4, Popovic 3, Dasic 2, Rikic.
