BC Prievidza – KK Adria Oil Škrljevo 77:79 (23:18, 18:21, 13:19, 23:21)
Referees: Vlastimil Kurc, Petr Nejeichleb, Lukáš Ulrych (all Czech)
Attendance: 110
Venue: Niké aréna Prievidza (Prievidza, SVK)
Scorers – Prievidza: Majerčák 22, Creammer 19, Oshita 18, Kincel 6, Matuška 5, Lukáč 3, Walker and Magdolen each 2, Jašš 0
Scorers – Škrljevo: Šajin 18, Rajčič 16, Vrgoč and Barnjak each 10, Adway 9, Stojanovič, Vučič and Kostič each 2, Marinelli and Čošič 0
Prievidza opened the game with great effort on both sides of the floor. After a defensive steal Tyler Creammer scored the first two points of this game. Šajin hit the 3-pointer for the away team, but Prievidza answered with two successful attempts behind the arc from Creammer and Matuška. After 14-5 run Škrljevo was forced to call their first time out. Prievidza still managed to control the rest of the first quarter, even though Škrljevo finally got things going in later minutes. Škrljevo started playing faster and more aggressively. This style of play quickly brought the expected results. Twelve minutes after the opening tip, Škrljevo players took their first lead. Majerčák’s three tied the game (32-32). Back and forth they went as Oshita scored 3-pointer and Prievidza again gained the lead
Škrljevo had really good start of second half. Rebounding was on point and 4:0 run showed in early lead change. Prievidza wasn’t scoreless for very long. Another 3-pointer from Matej Majerčák, at that time game’s best scorer with 16 points on his record. With 3 minutes to go during the third quarter, Škrljevo took a 5-point lead and Prievidza’s head coach Maroš Helmécy called for time out. That worked out well. Game was tied once again. Although it was Škrljevo’s team that started the last part of the game with a 4-point lead. Adway continued this trend with accurate three-point attempts. The home team fought back, but Škrljevo tried to keep the composure. Prievidza’s Alonzo Walker fouled out only 3 minutes into the 4th quarter. Soon Bamjak followed in Walker’s footsteps and now both teams were missing one piece of their rotation. With less than four minutes left and trailing by 5 points, Prievidza called time out. Jelenkovič’s three and two successful free throw attempts by Vrsoč upped the lead to ten points. Prievidza refused to give up. Matuška and his energy shortened the deficit to 6 points with exactly 1 minute a 59 seconds before the end of the 4th quarter. Shortly afterwards, Matuška definitely wasn’t so happy about his 5th personal foul. Last 30 seconds remaining and Oshita’s 2 free throw hits made it one possesion game. It came down to free throws and Rajči needed just one point to gain safer space for Škrljevo and he did exactly so. It wasn’t enough however. Oshita scored a quick three and Škrljevo missed one of the free throws again. Prievidza had last possession, but with time pressure didn´t manage to steal the game. Important victory for Croatian Škrljevo.
Post-game quotes:
Maroš Helmécy, coach of Prievidza: “We showed the way we want to head going forward after two games in which we really didn’t play well. This game looked much different. Only we can show wether we can keep this up, and I believe we can. Step by step. In our league, with performances like this, we’re closer to our first win and hopefully many more victories.”
Tyler Creammer, player of Prievidza: “Definitely a tough loss, they’re a very good team from Croatia. We were desperate for the win, we wanted to win bad. We put in a lot of energy, fighting from the start. Few turnovers, few bad plays, it separates you from winning. It´s frustrating, but we’ll take this result and keep working as a team.”
Damir Rajković, coach of Škrljevo: “It was a difficult game for us, because we lost the last two games and we came here to win. Congratulations to Prievidza and to my players. Very important win for us.”
Stefan Šajin, player of Škrljevo: “Very tough game. They had control in the first quarter, but we started to play our sets and won this game. We have two more games in the cup that we hope to win.”
