Play-Off Quarter-Final 2nd leg report: Korkmaz, Theodore late show seal Final Four spot for Banvit
LUDWIGSBURG (Basketball Champions League) - Jordan Theodore dribbled the ball from beyond half-court and scored with less than a second remaining at MHP RIESEN to clinch a spot in the Basketball Champions League Final Four for Banvit on Wednesday night.
🔥 THEODORE TAKES BANVIT TO THE #BASKETBALLCL Final Four! 🔥@BanvitBK @Casanovaisreal pic.twitter.com/I9vADhMAY8
— #BasketballCL (@BasketballCL) March 29, 2017
Trailing by five after last week's opening leg in Bandirma, where they lost for the first time in the competition, Banvit prevailed in the second leg, 59-53, in Ludwigsburg to claim a one-point victory on aggregate in the Quarter-Finals.
On their penultimate possession, Turkey international Furkan Korkmaz buried a 3-pointer to close the gap to just one point overall in the tie and after Drew Crawford missed with a short runner in the lane, Theodore got the ball and dribbled to the other end before throwing his lay-up off the backboard and into the basket.
With 0.7 seconds remaining, the hosts inbound the ball to Rocky Trice but his heave from three-quarters of the length of the court was off target.
Theodore, the MVP of the Turkish Cup and one of the leading contenders for the Basketball Champions League MVP award, wrote another famous chapter in what is turning out to be a terrific campaign for himself, and Banvit.
"Before we came here, we knew it was going to be a hard game," Korkmaz said, "because we lost by five on our court. There was a good atmosphere. We played as a team, we fought as a team until the last seconds, so that was the most important thing."
Theodore had a tough match-up with Cliff Hammonds
"We didn't keep our cool in the end," MHP RIESEN coach John Patrick said. "We turned the ball over a couple of times and they hit some big shots and we missed some easy ones.
"We talked all week about how good this Banvit team is. They showed their quality, especially Jordan Theodore and Korkmaz as the end of the game, crunch time.
"We said don't give Korkmaz 3s and don't give Theodore a lay-up but they found ways to get it. A lot of credit to (Banvit coach) Saso Filipovski, an old colleague of mine. I think both teams played a great series and left everything on the floor."
