Azovmash Mariupol 73 - Telindus BC Oostende 75

		Mariupol and Oostende battled till the last second of their game

Oostende clinched a "tough one" finally defeating Azovmash in the last minutes of a tough encounter in Ukraine.

The Ukranian team had a traditionally weak start trailing 2:5 after 2 minutes. With the support of a full gym the big guys of Azovmash woke up by the midway point of the quarter and equaled the game 11:11. Two 3-point shots even gave Azovmash a 5 point lead after 10 minutes (26:21).

In the second quarter the two teams proved to be equal. The guests team were led by Tony Dorsey who scored  17 points in the first half. Still Azovyash kept a small advantage of 39:36 at halftime.

At the beginning of the third quarter Azovmash started nervously losing the ball several times. But still they held on to a 51:46 lead in minute 26. Oostende fought back and grabbed a one point lead after three quarters (55:56).

The fourth quarter kept everybody on tenterhooks: the guest team, the players, the coaches and even the referees were nervous. Both teams were fighting for every centimetre of floor and consequently made a lot of mistakes.

New Zeland point guard Mark Dickel made two huge steals for Oostende, both of which ended up with baskets. The 2 plays gave Oostende the lead and with 16 seconds to go, Azovmash had the ball with a chance to tie or go into the lead.

Unfortunately for the home fans guard Viacheslav Ievstratenko rushed his shot and missed, allowing Oostende to hold on for victory.

Dorsey finished with 26 points and 9 rebounds for Oostende. Their MVP of last week, Christophe Beghin, struggled on offense (5/19 shooting) but still finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Ukrainian national team center Andriy Botichev was the top man for Azovmash with 16 points and 17 rebounds.

Quotes Azovmash Mariupol - BC Telindus Oostende

Andrey Podkovyrov, Head Coach, Azovmash Mariupol:

“I’ m not satisfied with the result. We suffered many losses that can’t be excused. So, tonight the luck showed us its back. The last attack was supposed to be concluded with either players crossing or with the pass to the center. That was not achieved.”

Dmitryy Korablov, Azovmash Mariupol:

“I don’t feel I am 100 percent in shape. There are lots of things I should personally work out on and the team as well.”

Eduard Casteels, Head Coach, BC Telindus Oostende:

“It’s a game and someone is usually more lucky than the other one. Several times before we were too close to win but lost the control and as the result – lost the games by 2-3 points. Tonight we managed to stay calm and not to lose control so, we won.”

Tony Dorsey, Player, BC Telindus Oostende:

“It was a pretty tough game for Azovmash is a very physical team. Though, in the second half of the game we were granted more space to run. So, we played more freely.”