Prostejov Win Eliminates Goverla

Jamar Smith was the celebrated hero as BK Prostejov edged Goverla

BK Prostejov needed a buzzer-beating three-ball from Jamar Smith to overcome BC Goverla in their first EuroChallenge meeting but on Tuesday, the Czechs rolled to victory at home.

Bertengeh Gadri had 16 points and 11 rebounds as Prostejov won the Group C game, 78-64.

The hosts improved to 3-1 with the victory and knocked Goverla (0-4) out of contention for a spot in the next round in the process.

Goverla had lost two of their first three games by two points and the other by only three.

The hosts went in front to stay at the end of the opening quarter.

With the game knotted at 18-18, Prostejov's Kamil Svrdlik buried a jumper for his first two points of the contest.

Pavel Slezak, in just his third EuroChallenge game with the Czech club, buried a three-pointer to start the second quarter before Svrdlik dunked on a fast-break to cap the 7-0 run.

With Prostejov on top 29-21 and 6:02 remaining in the second quarter, Gadri took his points haul to 10 by draining a jumper and that shot started a 6-0 spurt.

The run that put the hosts in command for good, though, came at the start of the second half when Travis Peterson nailed back-to-back jump shots and Arvydas Eitutavicius followed with a three-point play for a 44-27 Prostejov lead.

Goverla got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

That happened after Dante Swanson split a pair of free-throws with five seconds to go in the third quarter.

Prostejov's Matej Venta ended the frame with a shot from the arc, though, and the home team took a 58-46 lead to the final frame.

The Ukrainian team hurt its cause with a 17-of-29 effort at the free-throw.

Quotes BK Prostejov vs. BC Goverla

Prostejov shooting guard Pavel Slezak:
"After the first difficult minutes of the game we started playing great team defense and got our tempo up. We forced our opponent to tough shooting positions and from the most part we controlled the game."

Prostejov head coach Zbynek Choleva:
"I am thankful for the effort my players put in. We could not get into it from the start but our great defense did its work and helped us to control the game later on. We shot out the paint and took away most of the shots from the perimeter and did a great job on guarding key players of our opponent. It was difficult to stay concentrated especially at the start of third quarter where we were up by 20 points. Even thought we had some downs we dominated on defense and grabbed an important win."

Goverla guard Marcus Walker:
"We did not fight enough to have a chance to win the game. We did not have the integrity and heart."

Goverla head coach Evgeni Murzin:
"Let me congratulate to BK Prostejov. They played very well, especially on defense. Most of our players could not get into the tempo. We prepared for the game but not everyone understood what needed to be done. I missed the willingness of my players to fight as a team and change the result."