LEWIS Sims scored 18 points as Madisons APOEL beat Proteas EKA AEL 83-73 to defend the national basketball title after winning the playoff final series 3-1 on Friday night at the Kition Athletic Center in Larnaca.
Despite the fact that the game was played in Larnaca the ruling champions were well supported by their fans and they got a double-digit lead within the opening ten minutes at 25-13. As much as the Limassol team tried to stay in the game they were never close to actually endanger APOEL’s lead. They were trailing by nine at the half time at 48-39, while with 56 seconds left in third their deficit rose to 16 at 66-50. Early in the final quarter Yiannis Christopoulos’ men held a game-high 17 points lead at 70:53 and the final outcome was at that point beyond any doubt as the visitors never looked like they were capable of taking control of the game in their hands on the night.
After the game, that was yet again marred by crowd troubles which included objects that were thrown on the court towards Proteas EKA AEL’s players as well as numerous repulsive oral insults that were mostly directed towards Michalis Kounounis, the president of the Cyprus Basketball Federation Giorgos Chrysostomou presented the championship trophy to Madisons APOEL’s team captains Gerben Van Dorpe and Giorgos Anastasiadis.
Brandon Heath and Milan Dozet each had 15 points for Madisons APOEL. Heath also dished out a game-high eight assists, while Dozet poured in 14 points in the first half. Rick Hughes had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Bryan Bracey led Proteas EKA AEL with 17 points, while Courtney Fells and Ilian Evtimov had 15 and 13 points respectively. Kyriakos Yiangoulis was unable to use Giorgos Palalas and Quincy Taylor who were still banned after the expulsions earned in the second game of the series that was played at the Lefkotheo Indoor Arena in Nicosia.
This game represents the end of the basketball season 2009-2010, but even though the next season will commence five months from now some of the teams are already working on signing their coaching staff and filling up their rosters. Keravnos Strovolos agreed to continue cooperation with their head coach Memos Ioannou, while there are indications that Intercollege/ETHA made an offer to Serbian-American shooting guard Daniel Cavic who spent the last season with Ydra Asphalistiki ENAD.
