2024-04-21 10:31:26
In the “VEF Riga” team, Shawn Pipes was the top scorer with 25 points, Robert Bloom had 16 points and six assists, Arnaldo Toro Baream had 13 points and 17 rebounds, Gregory Whittington scored 12 points, and Maris Gulb had 11 points.
Artūrs Aušējs stood out for Ventspils with 26 points, Ishmaels El-Amin scored 19 points, and Linard Jaunzem had 12 points.
From the end of the first quarter, “VEF Rīga” took the lead, getting back in front of the Ventspils players less than seven minutes before the end of the regular time, when Aušējs scored from under the basket. In the next attack of the visitors, Jaunzems sent the rebound ball he won into the basket and strengthened the lead – 68:64.
“VEF Rīga” equalized a few minutes later after Blum’s accurate long shot, but Ausēs made a difficult shot in the fall in the counter attack. Ausės was given an unsportsmanlike remark in the clash after a foul against Blum. Ventspilnieks made his free throw, but Blum was accurate in both shots – 74:73 in favor of the guests.
After Barea’s shot, the Riga players returned to the lead, and as the game continued with unsuccessful attacks by both teams, “VEF Rīga” started with a three-point advantage (77:74) in the last minute. The guests failed to equalize the score and “VEF Rīga” celebrated the victory.
The champion will be determined on Saturday, when the local “Kalev” in Tallinn will fight with “Prometey” from Slobojanska. For the first time in the history of the tournament, one of the Latvian teams is not in the final.
In the main tournament, “VEF Rīga” was third, in the quarter-final series they beat “Rīgas Zeļlias” with 2-0, but in the semi-finals they recognized the superiority of “Prometey” with 0-2. Ventspilnieki ended the regular tournament in fourth position, playing the “play-off” series with three matches – in the quarter-finals 2-1 against “University of Tartu” & Moorits” and in the semifinals 1-2 against “Kalev”.
In addition to the Riga-based Ukrainian team Slobojanskas “Prometey” in the LIBL, “VEF Rīga”, “Ventspils”, “Liepāja”, “Ogre”, “University of Latvia”, “Valmiera Glass” Augstskola” and “Rīgas Zeļļi” are competing in the LIBL. Estonia is represented in the LIBL by Tallinna “Kalev”, “University of Tartu” & Moorits”, “Parnu Sadam”, “Viimsi”, “Avis Utilitas” of Rapla, “TalTech” of Tallinn, “Keila” and “Kalev” of Tallinn
In the main tournament, the teams competed in a two-round tournament, after which the best eight got the right to participate in the playoffs. In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the winners were determined in a best-of-two series, but in the final, one game will be played on the field of the team that was in the highest place in the main tournament.
The best men’s basketball clubs of Latvia and Estonia played in the joint championship for the first time in the 2019 season, when 15 teams participated in the competition. “Ventspils” basketball players became the first winners of the league in the final four tournament.
Last season, in the finals of the “Final 4” tournament, the basketball players of Slobojanska “Prometey” became the champions.
2024-04-21 10:31:26