GIEDRIUS Gustas scored 17 points and Armands Skele added 13 as Barons LMT Riga topped Dexia Mons-Hainaut 63-62 to claim the FIBA EuroCup title and ensure the first ever Europan basketball trophy for Latvia on Sunday night at the Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Center in Limassol.
Gustas, who was named the MVP of the Final Four, said after the game: “We played like a team for 40 minutes like our coach asked us.”
“We had ups and downs but we stayed like a team. We won by one point but this is enough to celebrate the win,” he added.
Barons LMT took off to a good start at the championship game on an 11-2 run and held a solid eight-point lead at the end of the opening period, 23-15. They then increased their advantage to a game-high 14 points on two occasions in the second quarter. First, when Joa Paolo Lopez Batista made a lay-up to make it 29-15 with 6:52 left in the half, and then two minutes later when Raimonds Vaikulis hit two foul shots to make it 31-17. However, the Belgian team managed to reduce their deficit to 35-28 by half-time.
After continuously cutting the Latvians’ lead in the third quarter, Chris Finch’s men even went ahead early in the last quarter when Benjamin Ikpeme Ebong made a lay-up to make it 56-54. Nate Reinking then scored a jump shot to provide his team with a four-point cushion at 58-54, but Barons LMT produced a 9-0 streak to put the game beyond any doubt and claim the historical title.
Travis Conlan and Nate Reinking each had 13 points for Dexia Mons-Hainaut, while Andrew Sullivan finished the game with 12.
In the game for the third and fourth place, Proteas EKA AEL defeated Tartu Rock of Estonia 79-70.
Ryan Randle led Proteas EKA AEL with 22 points, while Duane Woodward chipped in with 20. Alexis Liatsos and Karim Souchu had 14 and 10 points respectively.
Karim Souchu found consolation in this win after the semifinal fiasco: “We wanted to win the Final Four but we lost in the semi-finals, so today we really wanted to show we have heart and pride and that’s what we did.”
“We paid a price for not playing official games for so long and after the game on Friday it was easier for us to play today,” Souchu added referring to the devastating game schedule by the Cyprus Basketball Federation.
