Kalev defeated Tsmoki-Minsk at home, 79-70 (19-15, 21-24, 16-21, 23-10).
Top Scorers
Kalev: Vitali Liutych (25+5 reb), Mark Tollefsen (11+8 reb)
Tsmoki-Minsk: Justin Gray (24+6 reb+6 ast), Aliaksandr Semianiuk (13), Antonio Graves (10)
Turning Point
The game was close in the first half as Kalev took a one-point advantage into the locker room (40-39).
The Dragons tried to take over with a 17-5 run in the 3rd quarter, getting big baskets from Justin Gray and Antonio Graves.
But the lead didn’t last long. Erik Keedus and Cedric Simmons brought Kalev back in a hurry, helping knot the score early in the 4th quarter.
Tied 65-65 with less than seven minutes to go, the home team ripped of a 12-0 run to end Tsmoki’s hopes of a road win. The Estonians improve to 5-15 with the win. Minsk drops to 4-15.
Stat
10 – Alar Varrak’s men only gave up 10 points in the 4th quarter and a meager five points during the first nine minutes of the period.
Quotes
Kalev head coach Alar Varrak:
– The most important thing is that we escaped 12th place with a nine-point win. I’d like to point out Sten Sokk. He had a big part in our decisive run during the 4th quarter. We didn’t shoot well from outside today, which is why I’m happy we could get the win. We also stopped Justin Gray. We forced our opponent’s leader to take tough shots.
Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Igor Grishchuk:
– Congratulations to Kalev. The game was even, but it showed clearly that we’re missing a point guard. Our 15 turnovers resulted in 28 points for our opponent.
Up Next
Kalev: March 26 vs. VEF
Tsmoki-Minsk: March 25 vs. Enisey
