Liepāja (2-1) dominated against Borisfen (0-3) for 30 minutes before the hosts lost their focus and almost fell at the hands of Belarus club to secure a 95-88 win on Saturday, December 4, at the Liepāja Olympic center in western Latvia.
Players of the game
Roberts Bērziņš scored 29 points on 6-of-11 shoting from the field and a perfect 15-of-15 from the free throw line.
Shooting guard dished out seven assists, grabbed four rebounds, turned the ball over nine times and forced nine fouls.
Kārlis Šiliņš followed with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Florida Atlantic standout grabbed seven rebounds too.
Roberts Krastiņš made 3-of-4 three pointers to finish the game with 15 points.
Kārlis Žunda also scored 15 points. Former LU leader added nine rebounds and five assists for the hosts.
Marcanvis Hymon had 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 6-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Former Ole Miss center added six rebounds, four assists and five steals. Eventually he was fouled out.
Vlad Mikulski scored 17 points and played a huge role in comeback.
Cornelius Taylor – another Florida Atlantic graduate – had 16 points before he was fouled out.
Nathan Hoover (Wofford) and Ilya Sharipov scored 12 and 10 points respectively.
Key stats
Liepāja led by 28 points 72-44 with 11:24 to go.
Borisfen finished the third quarter with a 1-7 run to cut the gap to 22 points 73-51.
Mogilev team never looked back and went on a 13-33 shooting spree to return in the game 86-84 with 01:29 left.
Roberts Krastiņš made a floater shot and Roberts Bērziņš hit four consecutive free throws to regain a six point lead for the hosts 90-84 and 92-86.
Borisfen fought til the end but Kārlis Šiliņš dunk put an exclamation point to the game.
Liepāja outrebounded Mogilev 42-25 and shot the ball better from the three point line (10/25 vs 6/18).
The hosts scored 12 points in fast breaks during the first half but it was the opposite picture in the fourth quarter.
Borisfen forced 13 turnovers in the second half and scored 23 points off turnovers throughout the game.
Game notes
Liepāja played without point guard Renārs Birkāns and sharpshooter Verners Kohs.
Borisfen played three games in four days, including two matchups in Tartu.
Photos: Ģirts Gertsons
Tweet of the game
STANDINGS, as of December 4
Tartu Ulikool 3-1 (+25)
Liepāja 2-1 (+12)
Anwil 2-0 (+34)
Basket Brno 2-0 (+23)
Valmiera Glass/ViA 0-4 (-41)
Borisfen 0-3 (-53)
Šiauliai 7bet 0-0 (-)
Enisey 0-0 (-)
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