FIBA Champions League qualification
Leicester Riders 61-70 CSO Voluntari (20-16, 33-34, 46-53)
(Horsemen – Washington 14, Walker 13, Nelson-Henry 10; Voluntari – Cotton 19, Torok 14, Moore 9)
Leicester Riders suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the FIBA Champions League Qualifiers in Skopje, North Macedonia against Romanian side CSO Voluntari. This means the Riders will continue their European journey in the FIBA Europe Cup, after failing to qualify for the Champions League group stages.
The match started very well for the British who led by seven points (9-2) in the first three and a half minutes. The Romanians, however, quickly fought back and in one minute managed to take the lead (9-10), on an 8-0. The rest of the opening quarter went fairly evenly, with the Riders leading after 10 minutes four points (20-16) from shooting at 50% FG.
The second quarter began very differently for the two teams, with attacks struggling to produce and defenses firmly in the lead, with the scoreline just 4-7 in favor of the Romanians after seven minutes of action. . That’s when things started to heat up with both teams exchanging baskets, before Conner Washington scored a big 3-point transition (with help from the backboard), to put Leicester ahead 29-26.
With just three possessions until the end of the half and the Riders leading 33-28, Voluntari hit a 3 to cut the deficit to two runs. After the Brits failed to score on their final offense of the quarter, Toddrick Gotcher scored the game-winning basket when he lifted a buzzer-beater Hail Mary from his own half and scored, giving the Romanians the advantage at the break (33-34).
Heads or tails, Voluntari continued where he left off and didn’t lose the lead at all in the second half, even going up to 12 points (41-53) – which marked the biggest lead of the game – with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter. The Runners hadn’t given up though, showing great passion, and managed to cut the deficit to seven points (46-53) in the final 10 minutes of the game, after their top scorer Washington made a difficult 3 points from the corner. .
Although Washington did everything he could for his team, including a quick break after a steal to keep the lead to just seven points, Voluntari managed to close the gap to 12 (50-62).
It was then that coach Rob Paternostro called a time out and told his team to give one final push and play a full press defense on the pitch. The defense produced results, after Sarunas Vasiliauskas found himself trapped in the corner of the halfway line. The Runners continued to play hard and after some big plays from Mo Walker and Zach Jackson they cut the deficit to four points (61-65) – after the latter had a big 3-point shot.
While the British team had the chance to make it a one-point game, CJ Jackson horribly missed his 3-point attempt, which was punished on the very next game by Tekele Cotton who hit a very difficult 3-pointer from the backboard to make the score 61-68 and helped seal the game.
Washington finished with 14 points and four assists to lead the Riders in both categories. Cotton led Voluntari and was the game’s top scorer with 19, shooting 75% from behind the arc with 3/4.
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