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Rolandas Jarutis (Polonia) with the lay up
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After thrilling last minutes Polonia lost to Skonto by a single point 74-75.The young Skonto team played in this game without any respect to very experienced Polonia players.
The Polish team leader Jeff Nordgaard scored only two points in 27 minutes, while Skonto’s leader Dametri Hill scored 31 points and Arvydas Straupsis added 15 rebounds.
Skonto was the better team from the beginning. The Latvian players didn’t play individually but their actions were very good prepared. The Polonia players were stunned by the Latvian team who won only once in ten games. Riga played very well on defense and offense.
Thanks to this excellent defense Polonia comitted ahuge number of turnovers in the first half (16) and scored only 32 points before halftime. The Latvians led by ten points (32-42).
In the third quarter Skonto kepr on going the same way. They extended theit lead to 19 points (32-51). But a great job done by Rolandas Jarutis who didn’t play in the first half due to a hand-injury, gave Polonia a chance to win this game. After the third quarter Skonto's lead was down to 9 points (53-62).
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Antonio Harvey (Polonia) goes straight for the basket
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The fourth quarter was the best one for Polonia. The Latvians lost three key players due to five fouls (Darren Kelly, Gatis Jahovics and Andris Biedrins). One minute before end of this game Polonia caught up an tied the game at 74 each.
In the last Skonto action Arvydas Straupsis missed both free throws, but the second one was replayed because of Polonia’s Antonio Harvey fault.Given another chance Straupsis scored, Riga was up by one.
11 seconds remained for Polonia to score and win. Rolandas Jarutis tried the three-pointer, but missed. Walter Jeklin and Michal Hlebowicki got the rebound, but their shots were wide.
MVP of the game: Dametri Hill (Skonto) with 31 points
