05 October, 2021
15 May, 2022
2 Miro Bilan (PROM), 11 Oleksandr Lypovyy (PROM), 3 Brandon Brown (CLUJ)
03/03/2022
Game Report
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From Qualifying Rounds to 3-0: Cluj wins battle of feel-good stories

NYMBURK (Czech Republic) - Prometey and U-BT Cluj Napoca both went through the Qualifying Rounds, both got to the Round of 16, and both had tremendous starts there. Romanian champs are the ones that remain unbeaten in this phase, getting a 92-81 win over Prometey in Czech Republic.

The game was played in Nymburk's home arena, where coach Ronen Ginzburg and the Ukrainian champs got relocated once the war in their homeland started. Before tip-off, both teams stood united in recognition of people of Ukraine.

 

Turning point: It was a close encounter until halftime, but U-BT Cluj Napoca did their usual offensive masterclass in the third quarter, getting 25 points and opening up an 18-point lead which was cut to 13 before the final ten minutes.

Any time Prometey tried to go on a run in the final stanza, the response from Mihai Silvasan's players came on the offensive end, as Cluj became the first team to score more than 90 points in four different BCL games this season.

Game hero: Patrick Richard had 19 points with 6 assists and 5 rebounds, Stefan Bircevic scored 15 with 10 rebounds and 6 assists, Elijah Stewart and Dustin Hogue combined for 24 off the bench, but it was Brandon Brown who led the way once again for the Romanian squad.

 

The point guard had 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting, with a wide array of layups and runners that got him to 7-of-7 from inside the arc.

He has now scored 15 or more in each of his last six BCL games, the longest active streak in the League, but he also fouled out for the seventh time in his BCL career. Only three players had more games with five fouls in history of this competition.

Stats don't lie: There's really not a lot a team can do against U-BT Cluj Napoca when they are 12-of-25 from beyond the arc and 24-of-42 from two-point range. Especially since Prometey went below 30 percent from deep and below 45 percent from inside the three-point line.

Bottom line: U-BT Cluj Napoca started the season in the Qualifying Rounds, swept their way through Greece and carried their fine form to the Regular Season and beyond. They are now 3-0 in the Round of 16, leading the group that features Prometey, Unicaja and Filou Oostende.

Prometey will stay in Prague next week, too, playing host to the Belgian champs on Wednesday, with a chance to climb up to 3-1 and get within inches of booking Quarter-Finals tickets.

They said:

"Big win for us, I give also credit to Prometey, it's not an easy time to play for them, especially for their Ukrainian players. They fought today, congrats on that! It was a tough game, very physical, we scored 92 points, but this is not our best game. We missed a lot of layups, especially us big guys, we also had turnovers, but at the end, we must be happy. They are a very good team. We showed once again that we can fight, that we trust each other. I'm not sure if we'll win the group, but we are a step closer to that." - Andrija Stipanovic, U-BT Cluj Napoca

"It's really hard to speak about basketball in this period we live in. Especially when we played with a team from Ukraine. I can't even imagine what they are feeling in this moment, the Ukrainian players, who have friends and family in the war zone. I can't believe this situation happens in 2022, in Europe or anywhere in the world. I hope this will end soon. About basketball, I'm glad we did our job and won. Congrats to Prometey, they managed to fight, especially in this situation." - U-BT Cluj Napoca head coach Mihai Silvasan

"We didn't play so good and we still scored 81 points. We had 10 turnovers in the first half, we were better in the offense in the second half, but not so good on defense. We lost the game, but still have a good chance to qualify to Top 8. For sure it was different to play in this arena, we didn't get to see our fans like we do in Ukraine, but I really thank people who came here to support us. Really appreciate it. It's very hard to explain (what we are going through), all the Ukrainian players tried to focus on the game, but we think about our families back in Ukraine. When we came back to the locker room, we checked our phones hoping we won't see any bad messages, because we are worried about them. But we play. We play for Ukraine, we play for our country, we play for our army." - Oleksandr Lypovyy, Prometey

 

"I want to thank the people who came to cheer us in Czech Republic. I feel very sorry for our fans in Ukraine about this game, I'm sure it was important for them. This is one of the game that I feel very bad about. Yes, we can lose, yes, we played against a great team, but it was maybe 50 percent of our performance. One reason is that we didn't play for three weeks, and the second, of course, is the situation." - Prometey head coach Ronen Ginzburg