| 25.03.2009
BC Triumph joined the EuroChallenge Final Four party after pulling away from a determined Ural Great in the second half on Wednesday for a 78-63 victory. In a battle of Russian outfits, the Moscow Region team overcame an upset in Game 1 to win the Quarter-Final series 2-1. Triumph joined Proteas EKA AEL and Virtus BolognaFiere in the Final Four, with the last spot to go to the winner of Wednesday's other Quarter-Final decider between Cholet and BC Kyiv in France. Stanislav Eremine's BC Triumph only led 42-41 at half-time but then held the visitors from Perm to just eight third-quarter points. Triumph did their damage on offense inside the arc, making 27 of 41 (65.8%) while Ural Great relied on long-range shooting to stay in the game for three quarters. They finished 13 of 31 (41.9%) from three-point land. Eremine watched his team build a 31-15 lead with 7:46 to go in the second quarter, with Sergey Toporov (8 pts) and Ognjen Askrabic (7 pts) showing the way. Ural Great fought back, however. Darius Vashington drilled consecutive three-pointers and Alexey Surovtsev buried a third in a 9-0 run that closed the gap to 33-27. Vashington proved to be unstoppable in the frame and continued to pour in the points. His three-point play shaved the deficit to 34-32 with 2:50 to go and also took his personal tally to a 18. Vashington ended the first half with another three-point play to leave his team trailing only 42-41. He went to the changing rooms with a game-high 24 points. After the restart, a pair of Fedor Dmitriev baskets and a jump shot by Egor Vyaltsev accounted for a 6-0 run and extended the Triumph advantage to 48-41. This time, the Moscow Region team didn't let their lead slip. They finished the frame with a 61-49 advantage. Ural Great hero Vashington cut the deficit to 63-55 just over a minute into the final period but his team got no closer. Triumph reeled off 11 straight points - the first nine scored by Marque Perry - to open up a 72-55 lead and put the result beyond doubt. Perry had 19 points to pace Triumph, while Vashington finished with a game-high 33 in defeat. |