Spišskí Rytieri – OSC Capital Bulls 94:85 (24:20, 17:17, 29:30, 24:18)
Referees: Mordal, Podkowinska, Adameczek (all Poland)
Attendance: 550
Scorers – Rytieri: Kigab 32, Lopez 14, Pipkins and Reeves each 12, Fusek 10, Smith 7, Juríček 5 Mrviš 2
Scorers – Bulls: Baumann and Williams each 20, Krstiś and Rodriguez each 10, McCants 9, Okoro 7, Zapf 5, Grgić 3, Voetsch 1, Doka 0
The home basketball players had to manage without coach Teo Hojc, who is again troubled by health problems. The homea players managed to start the game, but Kapfenberg confirmed from the beginning that they are in the promotion position for a reason and actually set the tone for the game. Kigab and Lopez pulled the team to an important victory, making it 24:20 after the first quarter. It was a similar story in the following minutes, with Pipkins picking his moments in this case. The second quarter, however, was disjointed, stretched out, and the Rytieri’s discipline was no longer obeyed. It suited the opponent, but they couldn’t turn it around, which is why the scoreboard read 41-37 from the home perspective after the first half.
The break did nothing to change the fact that both teams were aware of how important the points were in the game. In the third 10-minute period, the teams exchanged close leads, but still, the home players were slightly better in this respect. Still, nothing was decided, the score before the last period – 70:67. In this period, the proverbial bread started to break, Spišiaci activated their defensive activity at the right moment and easily asserted themselves on the other side of the floor as well. The key was the 10:2 stretch, which gave them a double-digit lead and finally shut down the resistance of the Bulls.
Post-game quotes:
Erich Korfanta, assistant coach of the Rytieri: “We went into the game with the goal to win, because the table speaks its own language and we needed to win. I think we lost by 19 points in Austria, so our little dream was to win by an even bigger margin. It was an even game throughout, both sides were playing, but as time went on more emotion and discipline came into our game and that caused us problems in this game. The boys stuck to the instructions at the end, showed their individual quality and knew they had to convert their chances late in the game. We had a harder time getting into the game, especially rebounding on defense, where the opponent was outrebounding us by a significant margin, caused us problems. I don’t know the exact stats, but I think it was about 10 balls, which can’t happen at this level of basketball. Without rebounding, we had a hard time creating off the break, which often caused us to finish from disadvantageous positions. That’s why the victory tasted even more, the game didn’t go our way, we struggled a lot, but at the end of the day we were the winning team. The incredible Abu Kigab, who has been putting in some incredible performances over the last month, contributed greatly to the win. His combativeness and energy is priceless, he looks like he is everywhere on the pitch. He wanted to play all the time, the moment he had 4 fouls, I wanted to sub him, to which he replied that he wants to play, he doesn’t foul. He’s a rookie in Europe, I’m very proud of him and I’m cheering him on. The only thing that gave him a problem was the free throws, where he converted 4 out of 12 attempts, but it’s all about the head, I believe he will gain experience. The fight for qualification will be very difficult, next game we play at Dabrowa Górnicza, which is the favourite of the group, who we managed to beat at home, but it will probably be something different there. We are definitely not going into the game with our heads down, we want to beat our opponents and see what happens. I think our chances of progressing look pretty good.”
Abu Kigab, player of Rytieri: “This game was a challenge from the start. The opponent proved to be tough and competitive. Their dominance in rebounding caused problems in our game, but we still kept our heads in the game and successfully completed the task. Personally, I try to stay focused on the present moment, concentrating on every single offensive and defensive play. When I start thinking too much about the future, it’s harder to perform at my best. The absence of our head coach changed the atmosphere, but the assistant coach prepared us well and kept us focused during the game. Hats off to him for his efforts. This game had some personal significance for me, something like a rematch, because we lost to them before in Austria, so it was all the more satisfying to win. The last quarter brought concrete challenges in the form of constant defensive pressure and difficult transitions, yet we kept the lead and secured the win.”
Antonio Herrera, coach of Bulls: “I think Spišská really earned that win today. They played great basketball, and even though we did our best, I’m super proud of how my team performed. Playing in Europe is tough, especially because the game can get really physical. With our small roster, it’s even harder. We’ve got another game back in Austria in less than 48 hours, and all the traveling takes a toll on us. But I like this kind of basketball, it feels very high-level, the guys want to play and that makes it fun for me.”
Noah Baumann, player of Bulls: “It was a really frustrating performance. The opposing team played exceptionally well, they were physical, and they capitalized on our mistakes while making their shots count. We’re currently in a phase of figuring things out and dealing with a few injuries that are impacting our present performances. I wish we could face this team again, each of us won our respective home games. However, we need to focus on improvement for the upcoming matches.”
