Lavrio missed the opportunity to get the “double” that would qualify him for the next phase of the Basketball Champions League, but the 74-62 defeat in Novgorod by Nizhny is not condemnable. A victory in the last two games, with Dijon out or Malaga inside or if the Russians do not make it 2/2, will bring the qualification to the team of Christos Serelis, which is 2-2.
Leading for the Greek team, which returned from -15 to -2, was Jerry Smith with 23 points, but they cost the 19 offensive rebounds of the hosts who got their first victory in the tournament (1-3). Ivan Strebkov with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists made the difference for Nizhny.
The match
Lavrio made a dynamic start in the match and with their drivers Kaklamanakis and Carter led by five (7-12). Strebkov and Jovanovic led Nizhny Novgorod 14-4, leading 21-16. The hosts with a three-pointer by Astapkovic escaped with +11 (33-22) in the middle of the second period. With Smith entering the equation, Christos Serelis’ team came close to six, 35-29, but the Russians with 11 offensive rebounds closed the half with 40-31.
Nizhny was further detached in the third quarter, 49-34, taking advantage of Lavrio’s failure in the three-pointers (3/16). But a terrible outburst by Smith allowed the visitors to cut the difference to five, 53-48, at the end of the season. The visitors were within shooting distance, 60-58, six and a half minutes before the end, but Zoran Lukic’s players reacted and with a partial 10-2 they broke away 70-60 and “cleared” the game.
Ten minutes: 21-20, 40-31, 53-48, 74-62
See here the statistics of the match
Referees: Luchis (Latvia), Aungrogers (Latvia), Zapolski (Poland).
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