Patrioti Levice – SLUNETA Ústí nad Labem 83:76 (23:22, 19:21, 14:17, 27:16)
Referees: Radonjič, Stokič, Stojančevič (all Austria)
Spectators: 300
Venue: Športová hala, Levice
Scorers – Patrioti: Freeman and Juríček each 18, Trotter 17, Abrhám 12, Bojanovský 8, Krajčovič 6, Bachan and McCallum each 2, Volárik 0
Scorers – Ústí nad Labem: Pecka 25, Autrey 13, Svejcar 10, Johnson 9, Alston 7, Joseph 5, Karlovský 4, Gabriel 3
The home team started better, Bojanovský, and Abrhám put Levice into a 10:3 lead after 3 minutes. After time out of Ústí nad Labem, got away team hot in the shooting. Pecka was the main threat, but Levice won the first quarter 23:22. Second period continued in a dynamic way, the better team was Ústí nad Labem. Mainly Autrey took care of the match, after the first half SLUNETA were leading by one – 43:42.
Second half started for Levice the worst possible way, five minutes without a point, and Ústí scored 10 in a row. Freeman broke the waiting for home points and it was the turning point of the match. Patrioti got in the good rhythm, before the last period they were trailing just by 4 points – 56:60. Trotter decided that it´s Levice´s time in the end, and with the help of teammates, they turned the match in their way. The Slovak team were again leading and till the end they didn´t allow Ústí to change it. But before the second game, everything is open. Levice won just by 7 points.
Post-game quotes:
Michal Madzin, coach of Levice: “First of all, I´m glad that we won. We know, that´s only the halfime and before the second match is the 7 point lead a small margin. We need to fight for another 40 minutes, if we want protect or raise the lead. We gonna fight for the advance to next round.”
Viktor Juríček, player of Levice: “The most important thing is, that we won. But we can´t be satisfied with our game, especially in defense. I think that the game in Ústí nad Labem will be much more difficult and we need to cam there with different attitude.”
Alexandr Novák, assistant coach of Ústí nad Labem: “I can say, it´s acceptable loss, but we saw in the match, that we could get better result and maybe win it. In the second half we had a couple of possessions which ended in turnovers. On the other end we allow Levice open shots. These are the two aspects that decided about win of Levice.”
Delvon Johson, player of Ústí nad Labem: “Solid three quaters from our side, but in the end be fell short. I think, it was also by a long trip here. Levice made tough shots in the end, we couldn´t stop them and we didn´t score. The goal was to have a solid results before the second game.”
