Red Wings Win Not Enough, As Triumph Qualify

Krasnye Krylia showed a lot of fighting spirit but Triumph Lyubertsy did more than enough to win their EuroChallenge Qualifying Round tie.

Hosting Tuesday's second leg, the Red Wings led by as many as 14 points but only ended up prevailing, 80-74.

The result gave Triumph Lyubertsy, winners of the first leg, 94-71, a 17-point victory on aggregate.

Krasnye Krylia made their mark in the EuroChallenge two seasons ago when reaching the Final before falling to Göttingen.

Few would have given them a chance to come back from a 23-point drubbing in the first game last week, but Sergey Bazarevich's Red Wings gave their fans hope with a terrific opening quarter.

The hosts outscored Triumph 16-5 over the last 5:05 of the frame for a 29-18 advantage.

Jarvis Hayes had eight points in the first six minutes of the contest for Krasnye Krylia.

Triumph reeled off the first six points of the second quarter, including four by Kyle Landry.

However, Fedor Likholitov, Hayes and Dragan Labovic all scored late in the frame as the Red Wings opened up a 41-28 lead to trail by just 10 on aggregate.

Twice at the beginning of the second half, the second-leg lead reached 14 for the hosts.

Triumph didn't cave in, though.

Getting 19 points from Jerry Jefferson in the game, Triumph reduced the gap and eventually went in front, 74-73.

The Red Wings reclaimed the lead but had to settle for a six-point win in the second-leg as Triumph moved into the EuroChallenge Regular Season.

Quotes Krasnye Krylia vs. Triumph Lyubertsy

Valdemaras Chomicius, BC Triumph coach:
"I know that cup games always consist of two games. When we won our first game in Lyubertsy, I told my team, that it is not a complete victory yet, and we have to play good in our away game. And not just play good there, we have to travel there to win. Today we were behind initially, because the players didn't manage to find their rhythm, but after some time we found our game, and in the last quarter, I game a chance to the young players. They received a big experience today, even though they couldn't show everything they could. I am very glad today, and have two reasons for it; firstly we have managed to get to EuroChallenge, and secondly my players were able to protect the result of a very important game back home a week ago."

Sergey Bazarevich, Krasnye Krylia coach:
"One thing is certain, we were not defeated today, but in the first game. There are a lot of reasons for our loss in Lyubertsy, but it will sound more like an excuse. Today we were good, up to a certain moment we were "on schedule". But then we went down, and it is hard to explain why that happened. It seemed as if the players came out in the third quarter with added weight on their shoulders, they were pressed by responsibility. I think that was a side effect of the first game. Because of the tight schedules we have, we lacked the time to put the team back into normal condition."

DeJuan Blair, Krasnye Krylia center:
"Triumph probably wanted to get to the main part of the Eurochallenge more [than us]. Probably in some moments the luck wasn't on our side. Our opponent was motivated pretty good and they won. We'll try to leave it behind and will go on fighting through in the other tournaments we also participate."

Artem Kuzyakin, BC Triumph guard:
"We had provided ourselves with a comfortable advantage after the home game. But it is known that an advantage, even that big never secures overall victory. We had some hard time and got a little nervous when Krasnye Krylia took the lead in the first quarter, and were up by 10 points. We played good defense after the break and held the point difference we needed. We are a young and ambitious team, and we have a hunger for more victories ahead."