Anwil Wloclawek and Trefl Sopot won their semi-final games at the Kasztelan Basketball Cup friendly tournament and the qualified to the big final which will take place on Friday. Both teams had their problems during the matches but were able to tip the balance in the crunch time.
Anwil Wloclawek and Trefl Sopot won their semi-final games at the Kasztelan Basketball Cup friendly tournament and the qualified to the big final which will take place on Friday. Both teams had their problems during the matches but were able to tip the balance in the crunch time.
In the first semi-final Trefl Sopot battled with Turkish Tofas Bursaand was just seconds from the defeat. Nine seconds to go, Can Ozcan made a jumper and gave his team a 59:57 lead. However, the headcoach Karlis Muiznieks asked for a time-out and drew a strategy which brought an effect some moments later. Adam Waczynski penetrated so well and passed the ball to unmarked Marcin Stefanski who equalized the game.
Lukasz Koszarek turned out to be the clutch player in over time. Polish NT playmaker made eight of ten points of Trefl in that period of time and beaten Turkish time single-handed. Austin Nichols of Tofas was trying to change the final result but his triple at the very end didn’t make any difference.
Trefl Sopot - Tofas Bursa 69:68 (17:22, 16:12, 12:6, 14:19, 10:9)
Trefl: Koszarek 12, Alexander 11, Cook 9, Turek 9, Wisniewski 8, Dylewicz 6, Horne 5, Waczynski 5, Stefański 4, Burgess 0
Tofas: Nichols 16, Buckman 13, Steel 12, Can Ozcan 8, Geyik 7, Dokuyan 7, Baris Ozcan 4, Koc 2, Sipahi 0
In the second Thursday’s game Anwil Wloclawek played against regenerative Slask Wroclaw. At the half the hosts were winning by nine, 34:25 and it seemed they control all the events on the floor. Moreover, after smooth points of Corsley Edwards and Seid Hajric, the advantage increased to thirteen, 50:37.
Supposingly, even the head coach of Slask Miodrag Rajkovic abandoned his hope but the players did not. Akselis Vairogs made a three-pointer while his stunt was copied by Slavisa Bogavac a moment later. Furthermore, simultaneously Serbian forward drew a foul and made an additional free-throw, decreasing the lead to only six, 50:44. Finally, Anwil maintained the advantage after the third quarter but the result wasn’t satisfactory - 52:50.
The following actions at the beginning of the fourth quarter changed out of all recognition. Qa’rraan Calhoun made a triple, Aleksandar Mladenovic added four points and Slask were leading by five, 59:54.
Nevertheless, Anwil found the answer and its name was Seid Hajric. Bosnian-Polish forward played some pick and rolls with Louis Hinnant, made two jumpers and suddenly the hosts got back the lead - 62:61 and 66:62 a couple of seconds later. Mladenovic and Bartosz Bochno were trying to save the situation for Slask but unstoppable Hajric did let the chance of victory go away and Anwil won the game 69:66.
On Friday’s evening the players of Emir Mutapcic are going to battle against Trefl Sopot in the Kasztelan Basketball Cup final.
Anwil Wloclawek - Slask Wroclaw 69:66 (17:12, 17:13, 18:25, 17:16)
Anwil: Hajric 26, Edwards 14, Berisha 10, Nowakowski 8, Majewski 4, Allen 3, Hinnant 2, Woloszyn 2, Glabas 0, Pietrzak 0
Slask: Mladenovic 18, Bogavac 13, Calhoun 11, Vairogs 10, Skibniewski 7, Bochno 2, Graham 2, Niedzwiedzki 2, Buczak 0