The ESBA Championship continued in Poreč on Tuesday, with teams playing their last set of games before the day off on Wednesday. The first semifinalists in a couple of categories are already known, while others will be clear when play resumes after a one-day break.
M40
Semifinal pairs of the M40 category became clear after Tuesday’s action in Porec, as UD from Ukraine and Small Planet from Lithuania clinched top seeds in Group A and Group B respectively.
UD finished Group A with a clean 3-0 record after defeating Istra Porec 103-55. Despite the loss, the Croatian side finished second in the group. Volodymyr Gurtovyy led the winners with 21 points, while Dmytro Bazelevskyi added 19 points and seven boards.
In the other game of the group, Olimpas earned third place with a 77-54 victory against KSK Kaunas.
Meanwhile, in Group B, Small Planet topped Legion from Russia 79-68 to earn the top spot. Virginijus Sirvydis scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Rolandas Skaisgirys filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
In the semifinals, UD will face Legion, while Small Planet will play against Istra Porec.
M45
Patvanka moved atop M45 standings with a thrilling win against Project 44 at Veli Jože on Tuesday evening. The two previously undefeated teams battled it out until the very last seconds, with the Lithuanian side racing from behind in the last seconds to clinch a 58-57 win.
Arvydas Venclovas scored 21 points for Patvanka, Ramunas Juska added 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Mindaugas Lukosius chipped in with 11 points. For Project 44, Arman Ablenov had 16 points and 13 rebounds.
In the other game of the day, Basketclub claimed its first win by topping Carpathian Bears 49-31, leaving the Ukrainian team as the only winless team in the age group. Only four players scored for the Russians, with Andrey Kadochnikov leading the way with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
M50
On Tuesday, two games were played in the M50 age category. In the first one, Veteran Basket Ukraine nipped KTU Omega by a single point. The Ukrainians defeated the Lithuanian side 54-53 to improve to a 2-1 record.
Andriy Berezhynskyy was the top scorer for the winners with 17 points and six rebounds, while Alvydas Sidlauskas collected 13 points for KTU Omega, who are still winless three games into the tournament.
The second game saw Parnu keep their unbeaten record intact, as the Estonian side defeated Dinamo 65-57 to earn the second win in as many tries. Mo Saksakulm had an extraordinary performance for the winners, with 34 points and 13 rebounds to his name.
M55
The first stage of the M55 age category came to a close on Tuesday, with Salilita winning Group A, KFU Gorod Kazan topping Group B and TOP Trust finishing first in Group C. These three teams and the best second-placed team Garkalne qualified to the semifinals.
Salilita defeated Jasne Hlavy 61-50 to move to 3-0 in the standings. Steponas Jokubauskas was the key player for the Lithuanian side once again, finishing the game with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
In the other game of the group, Garkalne clinched semifinal berth with an 80-39 victory against Team Hamburg, who finished fourth in the group.
In Group B, KFU Gorod Kazan added another win to the team’s tally by getting the better of Basket Prague Selection and winning the game 66-48. The pair of Georgii Korolev and Vadim Shestov finished with 14 points apiece for the winners.
In the same group, AIKEA Portoroz won 86-64 against Atskalūnas and moved to 2-1 in the standings but lost out on a semifinal spot due to a worse point differential comparing to Garkalne.
Meanwhile in Group C, Top Trust beat out Perlas for a spot in the top four by winning the decisive head-to-head match-up 57-45. Ermil Kuldkepp had 17 points for the winners, while Romualdas Brazauskas scored 14 points for the losing side.
M60
Mercury joined Lietuva atop the M60 group standings after improving to a 2-0 record with a convincing 85-53 victory against Babailar on Tuesday morning. Together with Lietuva, they are the only undefeated teams in this age category.
Timur Yunusov had a game-high 21 points for Mercury, Grigorii Avdeev collected 18 points in only 13 minutes, while Dmitri Arteshin chipped in with 17 points.
In the other game of the age category, Ranga got their first win after taking care of the winless Basket Prague Selection. The Lithuanians triumphed 63-39 behind a 16-point performance by Arunas Baltinas.
For the Czech side, Michal Zalabak had a team-high 13 points and five rebounds.
M65
CSKA Veterans improved to a 2-0 record in the M65 age category after taking a 54-19 victory against Vilniaus Statybos Senjorai, who dropped to 1-1 after opening the championship with a win. Igor Sakharnov led the winners with 19 points, while the Lithuanian side didn’t have any players with more than five points.
Elsewhere, Lions of Galichina got their first win with a 41-22 triumph over Nestor Team Group. Jonas Laugalys had 15 points for the winners having made 4-of-8 from three-point range. Albinas Raudonius added 11 points.
M70/75
The events in the M70/75 age category took an unexpected turn, as the current leaders Vilniaus Statybos Senjorai finished the game with Kazan in a 33-33 draw, which brought quite a lot of confusion into the standings.
Vytautas Majauskas and Marijonas Zinkevicius led Statyba with 10 points apiece, while Vladimir Zagliadimov scored 15 points for Kazan.
W40/45
Another win by Best of Havirov in the W40/45 age category allowed the Czech side to cement itself as the leaders of the group. The team defeated the older Augma players 78-29 and improved to a 2-0 record.
Sona Simkova led Best of Havirov with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Jana Hradlova chipped in with another great all-around performance of 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Meanwhile, Carpathian Bears handed Radviliskis another loss. The Ukrainian side won 51-16 against the Lithuanians.
Tetiana Kurillo was the game’s leading scorer with 13 pooints, while Tetyana Yasicheva added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the victors.
W50/55
Kamane LT – Augma become the leaders of the W50/55 age category after improving to a 3-0 record with a 30-22 victory against Ladies Germany. It was a low scoring game, but the Lithuanians managed to run away already in the first period.
No player reached double figures in scoring in this game, with Marina Sauliene coming out as the top scorer with eight points, nine rebounds and six steals.
Nine players registered points for Ladies Germany, but no one scored more than four.
