The first games of ESBA 2018 championship in Pula were played on Sunday. A lot of emotions, friendship, smiles and amazing episodes have happened in 3 courts at first day.
W50/55
A dramatic start in ESBA 2018 championship had home team Pula who defeated Czech ladies 31-29 It was a really tight game and home team should be grateful to Ekaterina Loginova who made the final jump shot and led the team to triumph.
The hero of the game scored 10 points. Katarina Hume added 9 points and 9 rebounds, while Eva Brizova scored 10 points for Czech ladies.
W30
Nova arena started their campaign in Croatia with an easy 124-39 victory ahead Kekava. Russian team stood out as the stronger side from the beginning of the game and the gap grew at every minute of the game.
Elena Dyeva had an impressive performance with 29 points and 13 rebounds, Olga Iuzhnaia scored 21 points and made 13 assists. Angela Udalova was the best player on the opposite side with 14 points.
Tigris team as well started tournament with a win 20-0 – their opponents Pula 30 was not able to field 5 players.
M70
M70 group started their road in ESBA 2018 championship today as well. Kazan and Vilniaus Statybos Senjorai teams game was one of the opening game for this tournament. Even if first part of the game was more successful for Kazan team, but after the break Lithuanians become unstoppable, ran away 37-26 and took first victory 46-32.
Jonas Zizliauskas scored 16 points for the winners, while Vladimir Zagliadimov was the best with 10 points in Kazan team.
M55
M55 group games opened BBG Perlas with victory 66-47 against KFU Gorod Kazan. Lithuanians, except first quarter, had control of the game. They extended their lead to double digit at the beginning of second half and passed with advantage till the end of the game.
Mindaugas Lukošius was the top scorer with 26 points, while Saulius Kriščiūnas added 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Meanwhile Vadim Shvestov, Iurri Golubev and Mikhail Gorskov scored 10 points.
In other group game Veteran Basket made a run in the last quarter 25-10 and beat Rovinj by 74-65.
Iurii Kosenko finished the game with 26 points and 13 rebounds. Andriy Podkovyrov added 15 points.
Boris Grguev with 25 points and Predrag Srdic with 17 points were best players in Rovinj team.
Same scenario happened in Garkalne and Veterani Umag game. Garkalne made a big statement at the second half of the game by winning it 39-23 and recording first 69-55 victory in tournament.
Ziedonis Jansons scored 21 points for the winners. Igors Lukis added 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Drasko Kunic with 18 points was the best player in Veterani Umag team.
Starting 5 scored 41 from 45 points for Russian Project and lead a team to a first victory 49-42 against Sodoma.
Oleg Portnyiagin scored 14 points, while Vladimir Fidii added 10 points.
Jaroslav Basus was the only player with double digit in Sodoma team – 12 points.
M35/40
The only game was played in age group M35/40. Polyakov-Politechnic stormed to an excellent start of tournament after defeating BC Aqua 83-54
Polyakov-Politechnic stood out as the stronger side from the beginning of the game, managing to build a 41-19 lead by the halftime break. The gap grew even further in the second half.
Vadym Reka and Tymur Arabadzhy made best performances with 18 and 13 points, while Vitalii Kiselev with 14 points and Dmitry Stolyarov with 13 points made best performances in BC Aqua team.
M45/50
Kauno LT United started their campaign in Pula with an easy start 78-37 by beating Poltava-Kalush. Lithuania team gain the lead from the start and grew the gap all the game.
Giedrius Peciulionis had outstanding performance with 27 points, while Osvald Korner and Oleg Pelekh both scored 9 points for opposite side.
Better team on the court was Mercury-Kazan who easily defeated 74-48 Basketclub.
Most interesting game in age group was between Patvanka and Dinamo clubs. Patvanka almost all game had a comfortable advantage, but Dinamo all the time kept their opponents quite close. The final result 89-82 – Patvanka victory in the first day of the tournament.
Arvydas Venclovas showed incredible performance with 34 points. Saulius Ragauskas added 17 points.
Meanwhile, Valerii Iaichun scored 19 points and Sergii Demurin 18 points for Dinamo.
W45
Dobele team kept their basket empty for the whole quarter and grew advantage before the half of the game till 9 points. It was enough to keep advantage and took the first 43-23 victory in ESBA championship.
Linda Rimgailė was the leading scorer with 9 points.
4 players in other team scored for 4 points each – Olena Diadechko, Tetiana Breslavets, Olena Tserkovna, Nataliia Muzychuk.
In other game of the category, Carpathian Bears did not have any problems with Sedeuvos Malunos, defeating them 49-23 to also start the championship with a win.
Yelyzaveta Lysenko led all scorers with 11 points, as Tetyana Yasicheva chipped 10 points.
Inga Jokubaitiene with 10 points was the best player on another team.
M60
Incredible intrigue was in the last match of the day, where Vilniaus Statybos Senjorai defeat their opponents Petergof 46-45
The game had many ups and downs, but a clutch performance by the Lithuanians with Algimantas Cesas successful free throw attempt allowed them to triumph.
Hero of the game scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Rasid Abeljanov dropped 13 points.
Meanwhile, Timur Yunusov scored 20 points, while Andrei Smirnov added 10 points.
In the second game of the category, AIKEA Portoroz came away with a 78-56 victory against Babailar to start the championship on a victorious note. The Slovenian side had some problems in the first half of the game, but they were incredible in third one and took over control of the game.
Stanik Breznik was the leading scorer with 14 points, while Milan Milosavljevic added 12 points.
Anatoly Chursin scored 13 points and Boris Nefedov scored 12 points for Babailar team.
