BK Redstone Olomoucko – SCM winsed.swiss Mozzart Bet Timisoara 71:81 (24:12, 14:20, 20:36, 13:13)
Attendance: 200
Scorers – Olomoucko: McBrayer 26, Adamu 11, Bailey and Feštr each 9, Hemphill 7, Žák 6, Škranc 3, Grmolenský 0
Scorers – Timisoara: Gajić 16, Scott-Grayson 15, Dimitrijević 12, Mitrović 11, Mirković 10, Kesar 9, Lazar and Petrescu each 4, Nasturescu 0
In the 7th Round of the Alpe Adria Cup, BK REDSTONE Olomoucko’s basketball players led for almost twenty-five minutes over the strong Timișoara, but they went away defeated 71:81. In the second half, the visitors significantly improved their shooting from a distance, and the Olomoucko could not find a counter-weapon to that. They couldn’t have asked for a better start to the match. In defense, they interrupted the opponent’s attack several times, and in the offensive, they managed to convert the opportunities offered. In the middle of the 5th minute, Feštr increased the score to 12:2 with a three-pointer, and the visitors took a timeout. The short break did not help Timișoara much, although at times they reduced the difference by eight points. But then the home team took a breather and won the first quarter 24:12, when home player McBrayer secured the last points. The Olomoucko players kept the lead until the 15th minute, then the visiting basketball players managed to reduce the difference to seven points. The home team immediately took over and regained a double-digit lead – 38:26. But they lost concentration late in the half and conceded eight points in a row to lead 38:32 at the break as Adama and Hemphill failed to convert the final action.
After only two minutes of the second half, the guests reduced the difference to a single point when they hit the first three-pointer after ten inaccurate attempts. Gajić immediately reversed the result, and Timișoara took the lead for the first time. The performance of the Romanian team continued to have an upward trend. In the third period, the home team made five three-pointers, and before the final quarter, they suddenly lost ten points – 58:68. They didn’t even enter the last part of the match on the right foot, and after five minutes, they were already losing 60:77. Less than three minutes before the end, Škranc reduced the score to 67:79 with a three-pointer, but Timișoara’s basketball players managed to secure the lead in the group B table of the Alpe Adria Cup.
Post-game quotes:
Andy Hispher, coach of Olomoucko: “Everything was fine until the break. The team defended well and was able to assert itself in attack as well. It looked promising. In the second half, we were unable to follow up on the performance from the first half. We missed Marcus Shawer, who is a creative player; he could have helped us. Despite the defeat, we still have a chance to advance to the final tournament. We will fight for this opportunity.”
Dupree McBrayer player of Olomoucko: “We wanted to win and catch up with our opponent at the table. For a long time, it seemed that it might succeed. In the middle of the third quarter, however, the tide began to turn. Timișoara’s players caught on, and then they couldn’t be stopped.”
Dragan Petričević, coach of Timisoara: “We didn’t go into the game at all. We didn’t get up to speed, we made a lot of mistakes in defense. We didn’t do well in the attack, but that happens. After the break, the players added under their own basket, and thanks to that, there were also points in the attack and accurate shots from a distance. We wanted to win, the goal was achieved.”
Nikola Gajić, player of Timisoara: “We knew we were going to have a tough game because the opponent showed us quality in the first game against each other. The first half didn’t work out, but every match is played for four quarters, and we got the chance to correct the bad start. After the break, we played with much more energy, and it showed in the result.”
