SLUNETA Ústí nad Labem – OSC Capital Bulls 99:94 (21:20, 34:23, 21:23, 23:28)
Referees: Mordal, Adameczek, Tatar (all Poland)
Attedance: 441
Scoers – Ústí nad Labem: Nichols 20, Pecka 19, Autrey 18, Rowen 14, Nábělek 12, Haiblík 6, Johnson and Žikla each 4, Karlovský 2
Scorers – Bulls: Williams 27, Baumann 26, King 19, Kistic 13, Zapf 6, Schrittwieser 3, Grgić, Koka, Okoro and Voetsch 0
The weather had prepared a minor snow calamity for the visitors, so Kapfenberg arrived in Ústí only 90 minutes before the game, but even that did not prevent them from experiencing high intensity on both sides of the court. The home team wanted to take advantage of their home crowd, so they played a lot of fast-paced and offensive basketball. The first quarter ended with the closest possible lead for the home team at 21:20. In the second ten minutes, both teams showed their offensive skills, and after a storm of three-pointers, which was mainly pulled by Autrey from Ústí nad Labem, SLUNETA led at halftime (56:43). The guests didn’t even have a big break to learn their lesson and stop the home offensive, which attacked with gusto in the third act and held a double-digit lead most of the time.
In the last ten minutes, the Bulls tried to stop the scoring with zone defense, but it was more like water on the mill. Still, the visitors stayed in the game, mainly thanks to offensive rebounds and three-point shooting. The Bulls even got within striking distance at 88:84, and the game was suddenly heading towards a dramatic finish. With less than a minute left in regulation, the visitors hit a three-pointer to make it 96-93, and after a subsequent failed offensive possession by the home team, a technical foul came for the head of the bench of Ústí, and the Bulls cut it to 96-94 from the free throw line. After a timeout, the home team inbounds the ball, the visitors try to stop the clock with a foul but fail to do so, and Maverick Rowen’s basket with a foul closes the scoring to 99:94.
Post-game quotes:
Jan Šotnar, coach of Ústí nad Labem: “We are happy to extend our win streak to seven. The opponent from Kapfenberg showed their quality, but we helped ourselves with a very good offense today. We now have two days to prepare well for Nymburk and try to beat them on their court.”
Antonio Herrera, coach of Bulls: „First of all, congratulations to Sluneta because I think that they play a very good game. In fact, I’ve seen that it was a very good game, and I think that we also deserve to win. It means a lot for us, you know, because we are a very young team, so to come here and be competitive against a very good team means a lot. I feel that it was a good experience for us to improve for the future, especially in our domestic competition. So congratulations to Sluneta, and I hope that we can play in the future.“
Rudi Williams, player of Bulls: “Tough game. We know it’s going to be tough to come here and beat these guys, they’re playing at home. The coaches made a good game plan for us, but you have to admit that Ústí played hard today and got the job done. We played in a nice atmosphere.”
