19.01.2005

Ural Great 80 vs. Besiktas JK 74

In Group B of the FIBA Europe League this evening Ural Great, seeking a much-needed win, played host to second-placed Besiktas JK. The home team looking for their third consecutive win and a spot in the playoffs, came out focused and motivated.

Ural Great opened up the game with strong defensive play which allowed them to jump out to a quick lead. The visitors attempted to get themselves on the board by taking long-distance shots, however they trailed 29-19 at the end of the first quarter.

		Jurica Golemac

Besiktas JK opened up the second period with a 6-0 run which resulted in Ural's Valdemaras Chomicius calling a timeout. This proved to be of no help as Khalid El-Amin continued to lead the visitors rally, scoring 12 points in the first 14 minutes of action. 

After losing their ten-point lead, Coach Chomicius substituted in Alexander Dedushkin who provided a spark off the bench with a quick two points. After a couple of defensive stops which were successfully converted into fast break lay-ups, Ural Great saw themselves ahead 44-37 at the half.

At the start of the second half of play, the visitors came out effective on both the offensive and defensive ends. Andrew Ellis tallied the first points of the quarter and with tough play in the paint, Ural Great was forced into taking unprepared shots.

Ural Great regained their momentum as Sergey Przheorskiy drained a three and scored a fast break lay-up. With that, they took a 62-52 lead into the fourth quarter.

Play continued similarly in the fourth quarter as Ural Great came out slow and had their ten-point lead cut down to four. At this point Chomicius signalled once again for a timeout and with yet another three-pointer by Przheorskiy, their lead was back to seven with just over a minute to play.

Besiktas JK had one last scoring attempt but fell short and with that Ural Great went on to win 80-74, and kept their hopes alive for a playoff berth.

19.01.2005

Quotes Ural Great vs. Besiktas JK

Ihsan Bayulken, Coach of Besiktas JK:

"First I would like to congratulate Ural Great with their win today. We wanted to control the game but made a few fatal mistakes.

Ural Great used transition and fastbreaks which allowed them to take the lead in the first quarter. At the end we made too many passes instead of taking shots. But I look positive into our future and think we can prove ourselves in the future."

Valdemaras Chomicius, Coach of Ural Great:

"Ural Great wins its third game in a row and we can see how these victories change the players. We are in a difficult situation with a short bench. Egor Vyaltsev spent his first FEL game with us but I think he may become a very good player in future.

Sam Hoskin played stable both on defense and offense. On the whole I would like to thank all of my players who never gave up and kept on fighting in every single moment of the game."

Jurica Golemac, Forward of Ural Great:

"We prepared well for the game, we had a plan for it, and we followed it until the very end. We played good defense against their big players especially on Varda. I think the key for the game was defense and our team spirit."

MVP of the game – Jurica Golemac, Ural Great