2011-12QuarterfinalsGame 2
March 27, 2012 CET: 17:00
Local time: 19:00 YUBILEYNI "SPORT" PALACE
Yotam Halperin - Spartak St. Petersburg (photo Spartak SPB)Spartak St. Petersburg is the first team in the Eurocup Finals! The Russian team defeated CEZ Nymburk also in Game 2 of the quarterfinal series by 86-71 and punched its ticket for the final event of the season, to take place in Khimki, Russia, on April 14 and 15. Spartak had also won Game 1 in the Czech Republic by 64-68. The rival of Spartak in semis will be BC Khimki. Good accuracy from the three-point line helped Spartak build and keep a safe lead in the first half, and it only increased little by little in the second half as the hosts secured the win. Yotam Halperin and Janis Strelnieks led the winners with 19 points apiece, the latter having not missed any of its 8 field goals including three triples. Valery Likhodey contributed 11 to the win. Tre Simmons led all scorers with his 22 points, Pavel Pumprla had 17 and Lamayne Wilson posted 15. Spartak's 14 threes tied for second place in the ranking for the most three-pointers made by a team in a quarterfinals game, matching those of Montepaschi Siena on March 6, 2007 against Unics. The record is still 18 by Valencia Basket since February 25, 2003 against KK Zadar.

A three by Tre Simmons opened fire for CEZ Nymburk but two straight threes by Valery Likhodey led Spartak in a comeback for a 10-6. Six straight points by Yotam Halperin, including two more threes, kept the guests in the driving seat as Nymburk was relentlessly trying to make up for the Game 1 deficit from the very beginning. Miha Zupan hit Spartak's fifth three in the quarter but Petr Benda was the one to close the period with his layup for 12-18 after 10 minutes. Zupan and Janis Strelnieks kept on insisting from the arc to make it 29-20 for Spartak but Simmons and Pavel Pumprla stroke back to keep Nymburk alive. Both teams were having good numbers from downtown but Nymburk was struggling with turnovers, which kept the hosts ahead. Halperin and Likhodey were the main pillars in offense for Spartak but thanks to Pumprla and Lamayne Wilson, by the halftime break Nymburk had managed to trim the deficit down to 44-39.

The third quarter started with both teams clenching their fists, and the shootout from the arc continued on both sides. Halperin, Simmons and Likhodey were the protagonists again for a 52-44. Vladimir Dragicevic had a layup for the first double-digit lead of the game, 54-44, and then Victor Keyru blasted a new three for the 57-46.The double-digit lead prevailed until the end of the third quarter despite the collective effort by Nymburk led by Simmons, 70-56 after 30. The start of the last period was more of the same. Nymburk was trying to be back into the game at any cost but Spartak's tough defense plus the hosts' 14 threes up to that point, led by Strelnieks' 3 of 3, made it near to impossible. Two straigh threes by Simmons could only make it 78-65 as Nymburk was now struggling in offense. Pumprla scored twice from the line for 80-69 but with 3 minutes missing, the guests still had to make up for a total 15 points. Two more free throws by Patrick Beverley made it 82-69 as the game entered the last 2 minutes and the fans in the stands celebrated the passage to the final stage of the season.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Eurocupbasketball.com
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Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; CHIARI, ROBERTO; VOJINOVIC, RADOMIR
Attendance: 2700 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
Spartak St Petersburg21232616
CEZ Nymburk18211715
End of Quarter1234
Spartak St Petersburg21447086
CEZ Nymburk18395671
Spartak St Petersburg
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 STRELNIEKS, JANIS 22:49 19 5/5 3/3     1 1 4 1 3     3 2 21
5 ZAVOUREV, VASILY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 KOTISHEVSKIY, ALEXEY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 KASHIROV, ANATOLY 5:01 2 1/3     1   1   1     1 1    
9 HALPERIN, YOTAM 28:59 19 2/4 3/4 6/6   3 3 7 1   1   3 6 31
11 LIKHODEI, VALERII 21:15 11 1/2 3/4     2 2           4 1 8
12 BEVERLEY, PATRICK 28:33 4 1/3 0/8 2/2 1 6 7   3 2     4 5 3
13 ZUPAN, MIHA 19:41 8 1/2 2/3   2 4 6 1   1     3   9
14 ZOZULIN, ALEKSEY 22:52 8 1/1 2/3   1   1 1   2 2   4   5
15 ANTIPOV, PAVEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 DRAGICEVIC, VLADIMIR 27:49 8 4/8       4 4 1 1 2 1   2 1 8
23 KEYRU, VICTOR 23:01 7 2/3 1/4 0/2 1 2 3 2 1 1 1   3 1 5
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 86 18/31 14/29 8/10 7 23 30 16 8 11 5 1 27 16 92
        58.1% 48.3% 80%
Head coach: ZDOVC, JURE
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
CEZ Nymburk
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 BENDA, PETR 25:29 4 1/3   2/2   1 1 1 1 2     3 2 2
5 SOKOLOVSKY, LADISLAV 3:14                              
6 PUMPRLA, PAVEL 33:47 17 1/5 3/4 6/8 4 3 7 2 1 3   1 3 7 20
7 LAWRENCE, EUGENE 25:10 4 2/7 0/1     3 3 7 1 1   2 3 2 5
8 ABRAMS, ADRIAN 16:51 3 0/3 0/2 3/4         1     1 1 3 -1
9 KREMEN, MICHAL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 VYORAL, TOMAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 NECAS, RADEK 13:00 4 2/2     1 1 2     2     2   2
13 SIMMONS, TRE 26:11 22 3/6 4/5 4/4 1 6 7 1   3     1 10 32
32 WILSON, LAMAYNE 30:56 15 2/4 3/6 2/2   2 2 1   1     2 1 11
34 LENZLY, MIKE 19:12   0/1 0/2     1 1 1   2   1 1 1 -4
41 NAYMICK, DREW 6:10 2 0/1   2/2   2 2 1     1     1 6
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 71 11/32 10/20 19/22 8 21 29 14 4 14 1 5 16 27 77
        34.4% 50% 86.4%
Head coach: GINZBURG, RONEN

Head Coaches

ZDOVC, JURE
Spartak St Petersburg
“Congratulations to my players for the victory. Our goal was to be in the Eurocup Finals and we reached that goal. It wasn’t easy because first of all we played against a team that plays fast and wild basketball with a lot of three-points shoots. The key for victory was defense. We played the best defense in the Eurocup until this game and we had to prove it one more time. We didn’t play very well in the first half, but we were very good in the third quarter. Two of our players were very good in offense and we made some difficult three-points shoots and we won the game. "
GINZBURG, RONEN
CEZ Nymburk
“Congratulations to Spartak. I wish them good luck in the Finals. I think we had a great season in the Eurocup. We didn’t even expect that we would be in the quarterfinals. We are happy that we played in this phase.”