Ventspils" falls with -9 to "Pinar Karsiyaka

Starting fives
"Ventspils": Chatman, Lejasmeiers, Vairogs, Barnies, Grant.
"Pinar Karsiyaka": Palacios, Hersek, Strawberry, Dixon, Sonsirma.

The very start of the game wasn’t quite successful for the hosts. Individual efforts of hosts were stopped by guests without any big difficulties while extending their lead up to five points (8:3). It should be remarked that something also wasn’t going quite as planned with guests’ offence while Ventspils was losing the fights for rebounds under their own basket way too often. That eventually it helped the guests to score more baskets.

Step by step hosts recovered because of baskets scored by Akselis Vairogs and Troy Barnies, while by the end of the quarter both teams scored some three-pointers thus compensating the low effectiveness during the first minutes of the game. Still hosts made a bit more baskets, ending the first quarter with a lead +5 (23:18).

During the second quarter guests forced their game upon Ventspils and made one basket after another, at first extending their lead by more than 10 points, even coming close to +20 point lead. Turks didn’t commit any turnovers in offence while Ventspils team had troubles to score on the opposite end of the court. At the end of the half-time some shots eventually reached the rivals’ basket, cutting the lead to -13 (34:47). Juan Palacios scored 14 points during the first half, while Bobby Dixon added 11 (including couple of three pointers over the arms of Ventspils players). The best scorer among Ventspils players was Artis Ate with 8 points.

The second half of the game Ventspils team turned on their defensive mode but the offence of the guests was nearly unstoppable. Before the last quarter the Turkish led by 19 (69:50) but the men of Roberts Stelmahers were not ready to give up that easily. Latvian champions started the fourth quarter with 10 point run, cutting the lead to the hopeful -9. Even though “Pinar Karsiyaka” couldn’t break Ventspils’ defence, their players Diebler and Gabriel didn’t allow Ventspils team to come any closer. In the remaining minutes guests held off the 9 point lead and won the game with 81:72.

EuroCup, October 29
"Ventspils" - "Pinar Karsiyaka" 72:81 (18:23, 16:24, 16:22, 22:12)
"Ventspils": Chatman 13 (5r, 5a), Ate 11, Vairogs 10, Grazulis 10, Barnies 9, Grants 8 (7r), Peiners 6, Kanbergs 3, Meiers 2, Lejasmeiers, Butjankovs, Gulbis.
"Pinar Karsiyaka": Palacios 18 (10r), Gabriel 18 (8r), Dixon 18 (5r), Diebler 16, Sonsirma 8, Senturk 2, Strawberry 1, Hersek, Guven.
Game statistics
Ventspils Pinar Karsiyaka
2p. 13/32 (40%) 21/44 (47%)
3p. 10/22 (45%) 10/24 (41%)
1p. 16/17 (94%) 9/12 (75%)
Reb.(O+D) 8+23 18+22
Ass. 16 11
St. 3 7
BL 2 3
Fouls 17 20
Turnovers 11 10
F group standing
Place Team W L +/- P
1. Lokomotiv 3 0 +72 6
2. PAOK 2 1 -16 5
3. Karsiyaka 2 1 +6 5
4. Ventspils 1 2 -14 4
5. Budocnost 1 2 +4 4
6. Stelmet 0 3 -52 3
BK Ventspils game schedule
Date Game Time
15.10 Ventspils – Budocnost 82:75
22.10 Lokomotiv – Ventspils 72:60
29.10 Ventspils – Karsiyaka 72:81
05.11 Ventspils – PAOK 19.00
12.11 Stelmet – Ventspils - - -
19.11 Budocnost – Ventspils - - -
26.11 Ventspils – Lokomotiv 19.00
03.12 Karsiyaka – Ventspils - - -
10.12 PAOK – Ventspils - - -
17.12 Ventspils – Stelmet 19.00
Used sources:
Eurocup - Welcome to Eurocup