Previously, the Vilnius team defeated the Rostock “Seawolves” (83:56) and Pernu “Parnu Sadam” (110:60).
The home team started the match more successfully and led 7-2. In the middle of the half, the team from the port city scored twice with opponents’ fouls and weighed the result (9:12). Vilnius managed to catch up with the guests only at the end of the quarter – 18:16.
“Neptūnas” took the lead again after playing a couple of minutes in the second half, leading 31:25. Four minutes before the long break, “Wolves Twinsbet” rushed and forced the Klaipėda coach to call his players for a meeting (34:31). After that, the game evened out again, and the team went to rest with a minimal lead, with the Klaipeda team leading – 40:39.
Shortly after the start of the third quarter, A. Magro asked for a minute break, because the “Wolves” defense allowed the opponents to score points too easily (43:47). However, the home team was not successful in taking the initiative, they trailed by 6 points in the middle of the quarter – 47:53.
As the quarter drew to a close, passions began to rise. First, Neptune’s forward Zane Waterman received a technical foul for comments to the referee, then Wolves Twinsbet’s bench also earned it for excessive emotion. With 10 minutes left to play, the score was equal – 58:58.
At the beginning of the last quarter, both teams were a little stuck in attack and scoring points was difficult. But with four minutes left to play, Andrew Andrews hit a long shot and the capital team led 71-67. However, with less than a couple of minutes left to play, “Neptūnas” was again in front (75:74), and A. Magro asked for another minute of timeout.
After that, Garrison Brooks hit from a distance, Anthony Cowan added a free throw soon after, and “Wolves Twinsbet” regained the advantage (78:75). During the remaining 20 seconds, real chaos took place on the field, which ended with the guests scoring a goal in the last second after a deliberately missed free throw and snatching overtime – 80:80.
In it, A. Andrews hit 3 long shots in a row, and “Wolves Twinsbet” accumulated an 8-point advantage, 91:83, and did not let go of the victory – 96:89.
Tre’Shawn Thurman missed the second match of the capital team due to shoulder pain, and Jeffery Taylor couldn’t help because he was sick.
Wolves Twinsbet: Andrew Andrews 29, Anthony Cowan and Matas Jogėla 14 each, Garrison Brooks 12 (5 assists), Kristupas Žemaitis 8, Vaidas Kariniauskas and Justinas Marcinkevičius 6 each, Regimantas Miniotas 4 (8 rebounds, goal) , Marekas Blaževičius 3. Danielis Baslykas did not excel.
Neptune: Tomaš Pavelka 16 (10 rebounds), Arnas Beručka 15, Martynas Pacevičius and Desure Buie 12 each (10 rebounds), Nate Johnson 9 (9 rebounds), Zane Waterman 8, Žygymantas Janavičius and Mindaugas Girdžiūnas 6 each, Matas Repšys 5. Radvilas Kneižys did not score, and Airingas Brazauskas did not appear on the pitch.
Male coach Alessandro Magro’s comment: “We need a match where we meet opponents who play hard, have clear ideas. They played a good game today. For our part, we need to fix a lot of situations because we want to be more prepared defensively, we need to defend better closer to the basket. There were moments when we were completely down on both sides of the pitch. But that’s what we need to be as ready as possible for the official match. I hope that until then we will have more matches where we will have to overcome the challenges we have received,” said the Wolves Twinsbet strategist.
Next weekend, Wolves Twinsbet will participate in the four-team tournament of the Fracht Baltic Super Cup. In its semi-final, on September 14, Vilnius will meet the Latvian champion Riga VEF.
2024-09-08 07:13:19