Patrioti Levice – BK Pardubice 82:63 (21:23, 19:13, 17:18, 25:9)
Referees: Gracin, Rogič, Miletič (all Croatia)
Attendance: 1300
Venue: Športová hala, Levice
Scorers – Patrioti: Krajčovič 18, McCallum 17, Abrhám 11, Kotásek 10, Bachan 9, Bojanovký 8, Volárik 5, Freeman 4, Juríček 0
Scorers – Pardubice: Pekárek a Vyoral po 18, Walton 14, Švrdlík 7, Vranković 4, Henry 2, Burda and Svoboda 0
Bojanovský opened the scoring account of the final game, but immediately a 5-point reply came straight away from Pardubice. In the first quarter, the game was quite open, offensive and mainly balanced. The teams exchanged close leads several times. Patrioti were hampered by indiscipline, which was a boost for the guests led by Vyoral. At the end of the first quarter, Kotásek and his team mates nearly managed to tie the score – 21:23. At the beginning of the second period, both offensives stumbled, but there was still a huge energy and desire. Levice was able to kick off a 9-point stretch, after which they gained their first significant lead of the game. Pardubice didn’t fold up their arms, but the home team went into the halftime break happier as they led 40:36.
The home team made a great start to the third period, showing tremendous effort and commitment that translated into the score. After the first three minutes Abrhám adjusted to 49:39, which was the biggest lead of the game so far for Levice. Pardubice responded with increased pace and higher intensity in offense, but it was Levice who still had the upper hand. Everything was opened before the last period with a nearly equal score 57:54. Krajčovič stole the beginning of the fourth quarter for himself, with 8 points in a row he brought Levice back to a double-digit lead. The Slovak team again showed a huge will and commitment for a win as they converted everything that was needed in these key moments of the game. Pardubice tried to turn the course of events in the end around, but Levice with rock solid defense managed to win the big trophy.
Post-game quotes:
Michal Madzin, coach of Patrioti: “I am extremely happy. Tough games, tough tournament, two extremely tough games in two days. What more? We dreamed that we would be able to enjoy it in a full arena and it became a reality. We are very happy for that. With six minutes to go, I think it was down to four points, so it was every ball. I’m glad we believed in our ability. Every guy that stepped on the floor fought so unbelievably hard and we got it done.”
Šimon Krajčovič, player of Patrioti and Final Four MVP: “I’m very happy that we could bring this trophy to the home fans, they’re great. They helped us a lot in both games, they drove us forward and gave us energy. I’m happy that we managed to win the trophy, which belongs mainly to the spectators.”
Dino Repeša, coach of Pardubice: “We started well, we had a good start and energy. We moved the ball well in attack. From the second quarter we had less energy, we played with 7-8 players. 21 turnovers is definitely a bad number for us. Levice scored 28 points out of that, that’s too much and you just can’t win a game as important as the Alpe Adria Cup final with that. The other key difference was three-point shooting. Levice had a 50 percent success rate. We had open shots in transition in the second half, but we didn’t convert them. Congratulations to Levice, all the players and the members of the management team for winning the Alpe Adria Cup.”
Tomáš Vyoral, player of Pardubice: “If we had said before the start of this competition that we would be in second place, we might have taken it. I think that with the development of the season, it’s a pity. We wanted to win, but the home team Levice were clearly the better team. We didn’t defend a couple of offensive rebounds in the end, then we didn’t score baskets. We played it in a very limited rotation, missing two players who normally play big minutes. We can chalk it up to that, but I don’t want to make excuses. Levice also played in a tight rotation. We weren’t strong enough defensively, we didn’t communicate well, that’s how I would sum it up.”
List of champions of Alpe Adria Cup:
2015/16 Helios Suns Domžale
2016/17 MBK Rieker COM-Therm Komárno
2017/18 KK Zlatorog Laško
2018/19 Egis Körmend
2019/20 BK JIP Pardubice
2020/21 Alpe Adria Cup was not played in this season
2021/22 Patrioti Levice
