Alex Zampier rallied his team as Liège Basket erased a 12 points deficit and posted a 83-73 victory over Šiauliai to earn a bronze medal on Wednesday, April 10, at the Sparekassen Danmark Basketball center in Aarhus, Denmark.
Players of the game
E.J. Anosike did the heavy lifting for Liège Basket.
Forward scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the FIRST HALF.
A new Final Four scoring record was set with 14:48 left in the second half.
Anosike scored second chance points to pass Kodi Justice – Pistol had 28 points in a semifinal win for Voluntari.
A new Final Four record in rebounds was also registered in the third quarter.
E.J. Anosike finished the game with 34 points on 14/25 shooting from the field and 3/6 from the charity stripe.
He had 18 rebounds as well.
Angel Rodriguez posted another amazing stat line.
Point guard had 12 points, five rebounds, nine assists and five steals.
Anthony Cambo scored 10 points.
Dovydas Romancenko led Šiauliai with 19 points on 7/8 scoring from the field and 4/5 from the free throw line.
Sean Armand checked out with 16 points and six assists.
Key stats
First 15 minutes belonged to Šiauliai.
The Lithuanians were aggressive and effective – they led by as much as 12 points, 37-25.
Two timeouts by Alex Zampier waked up the Royals.
Liège Basket finished the first half on a 4-15 run and cut the gap to a single point, 41-40.
E.J. Anosike was omnipresent all the time.
Big man had 24 points – 60% of all points scored by Liège Basket at the half.
Team from Belgium had a chance to end the first 20 minutes on a high note.
Game clock was reset from 0.5 to 1.2 seconds after referees watched the instant replay system.
Olivier Troisfontaines missed a difficult three point attempt.
Liège Basket seized initiative and took a lead in the third quarter.
Their defensive effort was highlighted by Angel Rodriguez.
Point guard had three steals in 10 minutes to reach a new Final Four record.
Liège Basket led by six points after 30 minutes of play, 63-57, but Šiauliai stayed in the race.
Nine players scored for the Šiauliai and the fouls piled up for Liège.
Jamelle Hagins and Anthony Cambo had four fouls each.
Olivier Troisfontaines fouled out with 06:31 left.
Liège Basket stayed in control.
A three point shot by Angel Rodriguez increased their lead up to 11 points, 73-62.
Miloš Bojovič did the same a couple of minutes later, 78-67.
Paulius Danusevičius was ejected with 21.4 seconds left after a 2022 ENBL finalist received two technical fouls.
Game notes
Liège Basket improved to 6-5, while Šiauliai dropped to 8-3.
Alex Zampier and his men finished their debut season with a bronze medal.
Liège Basket also reached the second stage in the BNXT league.
Šiauliai is the first team which has participated in two Final Fours.
Žydrūnas Urbonas has a 6-2 record in the ENBL.
SCHEDULE (local time only)
Tuesday, April 9
Liège Basket 79-80 CSO Voluntari
Šiauliai 77-90 Bakken Bears
Wednesday, April 10
Liège Basket 83-73 Šiauliai
19:00 CSO Voluntari – Bakken Bears
21:00 Award ceremony
Final Four history
Wloclawek 2022: Anwil Wloclawek, Šiauliai, Basket Brno, Tartu University
Ostrów Wielkopolski 2023: BM Stal Ostrów, BC Wolves, Start Lublin, King Szczecin
Aarhus 2024: tbd, tbd, Liège Basket, Šiauliai
Final Four referees
Ostrów Wielkopolski 2023 https://www.enbleague.eu/post/ostr%C3%B3w-calling-know-your-final-4-referees