02.02.2005

Ural Great 87 vs. SAOS JDA Dijon 74

Ural Great's 31-point loss to Dijon in their first encounter in France made for an interesting second match-up. Dijon Coach Nicolas Faure admitted before the game that was worried his team would play only to protect the 31-point difference, while Ural Great coach Valdemaras Chomicius was without the injured Sharon Shason.

		Vyacheslav Shushakov

Ural Great's problems did not affect them too much in the first quarter and they raced out of the blocks to a 27-15 lead, mainly thanks to 13 first quarter points from Sam Hoskins.

Spurred on by the points difference, Dijon fought back to level the scores, before Ural Great once again built a double digit lead.

But it soon became clear that Faure's worries were unfounded and his side were in Perm to win. Six consecutive points from Boniface Ndong, combined with a Pascal David three-pointer saw Dijon take the lead 60-61. It was only two three-pointers by Egor Vyaltsev and Vyacheslav Shushakov which saw Ural Great retain the lead by the end of the third quarter.

The home side opened the final period with a 10-point run which settled the contest in their favour. They were, however, unable to build the requisite lead which would give them the advantage in any tie-break situation and finished 87-74 winners.

Hoskin finished with 21 points for Ural Great while Shushakov added 17.

02.02.2005

Quotes Ural Great vs. SAOS JDA Dijon

Nicolas Faure, Coach of JDA Dijon:

"It was a great game. I want to congratulate Ural Great, they played much better than in our first game in Dijon. We knew they had many changes of players including their coach, so we anticipated this game to be difficult. First of all we wanted not to lose by more than 31 points. Of course our goal was to win but the home team was much better tonight. As for our future in the FIBA Europe League, we have to beat Pepinster next week and if we do so, we will qualify."

Ricardo Hill, JDA Dijon:

"The game was decided in the fourth quarter. We played hard and we struggled to compete today but Ural Great outplayed us."

Valdemaras Chomicius, Coach of Ural Great Perm:

"My players a very good game today. Unfortunately our chances to qualify to the next stage of the competition are very small. The players knew it and this put a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. However tonight they entered the floor with only one wish, to win, and I am glad they proved their strong character and won this game."

Vyacheslav Shushakov Ural Great Perm:

"We lost to Dijon by 31 points in the first game in France and this made us feel a little bit nervous today. Nevertheless, our most important goal as always was to win. We played well but unfortunately there were moments when we lost concentration in defense and focus in offense. This was a good game and I want to thank our fans for their loyalty and support."