Having the upper hand throughout the match, Iraklis “cleaned” Riga Zeli 78-69 in Latvia for the premiere of this year’s ENBL and started the duties in the event ideally.
The players of Sotiris Karapostolos in the debut of the Greek technician reached double-digit differences in the first and second periods, Zeli reduced to -2 at the break, but the 4-0 and 5-0 series at regular intervals in the third and fourth periods gave the pink card to the “old man”.
The leaders of the “blue and white” were Wright-Forman with 24, Funderbrook with 18 and Moraitis with 12 points.
The match
Iraklis found the solutions at the beginning of the match and with Moraitis in the racket and Funderbook’s three-pointers it reached 15-5 and 16-6. Moraitis made it 19-6 with superiority in rebounds and good defense in the perimeter, with the “old man” reaching 22-8. Wright-Forman’s three-pointer made it +15 and the Salks made it 17-27 at the end of the first quarter.
Herakles led 28-19 at the start of the second period, but a 6-0 run by the Latvians made the score 25-28 with Fidler as the star. Wright-Forman led 26-32, but Fiedler and Skuga went on a 7-0 run for +1 Riga Zeli. The lead began to change after that with the correct choices of both near the basket and the star of the last minutes Funderbrook made it 37-39 at the conclusion of the half.
Iraklis had 8/21 two-pointers, 4/13 three-pointers, 11/13 shots and 21 rebounds.
A 4-0 run at the start of the third period brought +3 for Iraklis and Silas’ three-pointer +5 for the “blue and white”. A new 5-0 run by the “old man” brought +7 for the Thessalonians. Riga Zeli with a 4-0 run reduced to -3, but Iraklis with many solutions and supremacy in rebounds reached +8. Riga was down 57-60, but Moraitis with a personal 3-0 run made it 57-63 at the end of the quarter.
Berzins helped spark a 5-0 Riga run for -1 to start the fourth period, but Heracles answered with a 5-0 run of their own for +6. The Americans of Sotiris Karapostolos brought +7 and Wright-Forman’s personal 4-0 run in the last minute brought +8 for the final 69-78.
The quarters: 17-27, 37-39, 57-63, 69-78
The statistics
Source: Sport Fm
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