Spišskí Rytieri – KK Zabok 86:81 (27:12, 17:31, 22:14, 20:24)
Referees: Lukas Kapana, Petr Nejezchleb, Filip Dombrovský (all Czech republic)
Attendance: 300
Venue: Mestská Športová Hala, Spišská Nová Ves
Scorers – Rytieri: McGlynn and Granić each 20, Antoni 13, Juríček 12, Sokolovkyij and Hlivák each 6, Makula and Jasečko 0
Scorers – Zabok: Lukačić 19, Antonić 15, Tomas 14, Kučan 5, Stipaničev 4, Buljević, Tomić, Orksalo and Crnjević each 3, Garrett and Martinko 0
Spišskí Rytieri started the game with high confidence, the first quarter they won by 15 points. After that, the coach gave more minutes to the young players and Zabok tied the game at half time. In the 2nd half it was a tie game, but in the end the home team was a bit better and took the victory and the quarterfinal.
Post-game quotes:
Teo Hojč, coach of Rytieri: “We had to do without our first point guard, but I’m happy for the guys that we did it. I had to rotate a narrow lineup, the young guys got some space, that’s why the score fluctuated so much. We are happy to have made it to the next stage in this cup and to have done it with only three legionnaires.”
Dmitro Sokolovskyj, player of Rytieri: “If we wanted to confirm our progress and not rely on anyone, we had to win and I’m glad we did. The coach trusted me, he gave me a lot of minutes, hopefully I didn’t let him down and I helped the team to win.”
Jurica Smiljanić, coach of Zabok: “I want to congratulate Spišská on progressing to the next stage and wish them all the best in the cup and in the domestic league. They were a little bit better, although the match was marked by the fact that basically everything was already pre-decided. We spread the minutes over all the players, it was a good European experience.”
