MKS Dabrowa Górnicza – BK REDSTONE Olomoucko 101:94 ot (25:21, 18:19, 24:18, 20:29 – 14:7)

Referees: Jovović, Stanković, Galić (all Croatia)

Attendance: 100

Scorers – Dabrowa Górnicza: Cabbill 24, Persons 23, Garcia 19, Carvacho 15, Slupinski 9, Williams 6, Wilczek 3, Kulikowski 2, Kucharek and Piechowicz 0

Scorers – Olomoucko: Bailey 22, Townsend 19, McBrayer 17, Adamu 13, Žák 11, Vogt 7, Klepač 3, Feštr 2

Dabrowa Górnicza kicked off the first game at the Final Four in Kapfenberg with a 5:0 lead after one minute. The reigning champion easily uncovered defensive holes in Olomouc’s side and quite comfortably gained game confidence. A timeout helped the Czech team, playing more responsibly for a while, but the more team-oriented opponent was already leading 19:9 in the 6th minute. At this point Townsend took matters into his own hands and brought Olomoucko back into the match. The offensive first quarter went better for MKS – 25:21. The second quarter was less offensive at the beginning but more combative, which suited Olomoucko more, who kept the score at an acceptable margin. Dabrowa Górnicza players though always had a point answer, but Olomoucko’s McBrayer equalised in the 8th minute at 36:36 and the semi-final started from the beginning. The reigning AAC champion had a slightly better ending though, winning the first half 43:40.

The attractive battle for a place in the final continued in the second half. The action became much more balanced, with teams exchanging successful tries. Dabrowa Górnicza reacted to this development with an 11-point streak, after which their confidence returned and it looked like the beginning of the duel. Olomoucko did not give up the dream of semifinal success, but before the last quarter they were down 58:67. Step by step they managed to reduce the deficit and make the opening game of the Final Four even more dramatic. They even managed to pull to within one possession, so the first semifinal had the best possible ending. Bailey from Olomoucko even tied the game at 78:78 with 150 seconds left. Adamu immediately afterwards put the Czech team in the lead for the first time in the game. Until the last second it was not clear who would succeed, finally it went to overtime at 87:87.

The teams exchanged close leads in overtime, once Dabrowa Górnicza was closer to advancing, then Olomoucko. Even the overtime did not give an answer to who would play in the AAC final for a long time. Better nerves, better shooting and fewer mistakes were made by the team from Poland, who could continue to dream of defending the winning trophy.

Post-game quotes:

Boris Balibrea, coach of Dabrowa Górnicza: „It wasn’t an ideal game from our side. We didn’t play the way we wanted. We wanted to present ourselves differently. But it’s important to win games like this when you don’t have control over the pace of the game and it’s not enjoyable all the time. Maybe for the first 5 minutes it looked the way we wanted, but it was hard to find a rhythm. But we showed character, we didn’t give up and we played as a team. The most important thing is that we won.“

Tayler Persons, player of Dabrowa Górnicza: „We came to Kapfenberg with one goal, to win the Alpe Adria Cup. The first thing we needed to do was to win the first match. My boys deserve credit, they fought hard in this difficult match. Olomoucko played a good game. We got into overtime, the fans could enjoy it and I’m glad we won in the end. I’m happy that we have reached the final and we are only one game away from achieving our goal.“

Andrew Jay Hipsher, coach of Olomoucko: „I think my guys fought. I’m of the opinion that we didn’t close out the game the way we normally can from an offensive standpoint. I can think of four, five, six lay-ups that we threw away. Against a quality team like we faced, you just have to convert them. On the other hand, the guys deserve credit because they didn’t stop playing. We had a chance to win, but in the end they converted more important shots down the strech than we did.“

Lukáš Feštr, player of Olomoucko: „Overall in this game the details were the difference, it was mostly about them in the end. We lost the ball badly there and on the other side they were giving difficult shots. From our side, it was great that even when we were down by 10 points, we were able to come back in the game. We all believed that we could do it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it. We have no choice but to put it behind us and learn our lesson.“