BK IMMOunited Klosterneuburg – Spišskí Rytieri 55:72 (14:16, 17:21, 10:18, 14:17)
Referees: Klirz, Jedlička, Dombrovský
Audience: 150
Venue: Dukes Castle
Scorers – Klosterneuburg: Burgemeister 13, Moschik 8, Blazevic 6, Bauer 5, Miletic 5, Murray-Boyles 5, Bavcic 4, Jakubowski 4, Alper 3, König 2
Scorers – Rytieri: Baťka 20, Dressler 15, Stevanović 12, Gavrilović 11, Lužaić 8, Hlivák 6
The Dukes, who were very self-confident after their recent successes, started well into their second Alpe Adria Cup home game and put the score at 12:4 after four minutes. After a timeout, the guests from Slovakia were better adjusted and came back. The game of Klosterneuburg was now, certainly also due to many changes, clearly less fluent than at the beginning. They scored only two points in the remaining six minutes of the quarter. Spisski did not miss this opportunity and grabbed the 16:14 lead after the first ten minutes. Also, in the second quarter, the hosts did not find their rhythm for a long time, so that Nova Ves increased the lead to 26:19. After a timeout and the substitution of Murray-Boyles, the Dukes regained some momentum. Nevertheless, the guests defended their lead and went into the break with 37:31.
Spisski came out of the locker room much more focused and increased the lead further. Klosterneuburg‘s offense hardly worked anymore. The Slovaks won the third quarter with 18:10 and increased their lead to a comfortable 55:41. After the Dukes had been able to overcome a large gap in the league last time, there was at least a little hope left. They once again fought back against the threat of defeat and reduced the deficit to nine points. But there was nothing more they could do, and the guests took a well-deserved away win, despite a short bench.
Post-game quotes:
Chris O’Shea, coach of Klosterneuburg: “It was a tough game, we never found our rhythm. They were physically dominant, they won 44:20 points in the paint and 19:0 from turnovers. We need to be more mature and do better in the next game.”
Valentin Bauer, player of Klosterneuburg: “I think we started well but then lost our rhythm and didn’t get back into the game. The game showed us what we need to work on so we can come back stronger at the weekend.”
Štefan Svitek, coach of Rytieri: “We played well and later we showed a good defense, I think that was the key to the win.”
Michal Baťka, player of Rytieri: “We knew their quality, they beat Kapfenberg last time. We came here with a very small rotation, but fought until the end. We never gave up and are happy about the victory.”
