Basket Brno went on a 34-18 run late in the game to beat Tartu Ulikool/Maks&Moorits 87-81 on Tuesday, March 1, at the Daugava sports hall in Riga, Latvia.
Players of the game
Richard Balint scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Czech international had eight consecutive points midway the final stretch to cut the gap to two points with 03:50 left.
Balint hit a three pointer, made a jump shot and sank three consecutive free throws.
Šimon Pursl also had a big quarter.
Center scored nine of his 17 points in the final 10 minutes.
He added five rebounds, three asissts and one steal too.
Kytel Rashad Madden was impressive throughout the game.
Arkansas Razorbacks star had 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.
Dean Hunter Mickelson posted a double-double.
Kansas big man scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Mart Rosenthal replied with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field.
Edmunds Elksnis had 18 points and six rebounds.
Emmanuel Wembi and Robin Kivi added 10 points each.
Key stats
Edmunds Elksnis scored two points early in the fourth quarter to extend Tartu lead up to 10 points 53-63.
Basket Brno replied with a 34-18 run.
Richard Balint and Šimon Puršl outscored Tartu 20-18 during that stretch but it took effort from all players to post a win.
Brno won the battle of rebonds 44-31.
Tartu turned the ball over just seven times, compared to 17 turnovers for Brno.
The Estonian team received a serious spark from the bench (15-43) as Rosenthal and Elksnis combined for a 37 points.
Tartu also scored more points off turnovers (8-16).
Game notes
The game took place a few hours after the ENBL excluded Russian and Belarusian teams from the competition, due to the ongoing and escalated war against Ukraine.
International Basketball federation via its "FIBA media" twitter account announced its decision to ban Russian national teams, clubs and officials until further notice.
The teams observed a minute of silence, honoring war victims in Ukraine.
Basket Brno had nine active players for the game and eight of them entered the field.
Photos: Renārs Koris