2012-13Regular SeasonRound 5
December 04, 2012 CET: 18:30
Local time: 19:30 ARENA RIGA
Kristaps Janicenoks - VEF Riga  (photo VEF Riga -Mikus Klavins)VEF Riga remained alive for a spot in the Last 16 with a convincing 83-72 victory over Artland Dragons at home in Group C on Tuesday. Kristaps Janicenoks led the way with 19 points for Riga, which improved to 2-3 with its second win over Artland. Will Daniels added 12 points, while Earl Rowland collected 12 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists and Kaspars Berzins tallied 11 points. Artland dropped to 1-4 in the group and was eliminated from the next stage despite Demond Mallet’s 15 points while Bryce Taylor had 14 points and Petar Popovic added 12 in the loss.

Artland took the lead on a triple by Taylor but Riga scored the next 9 points for a 9-3 lead. The hosts pushed the advantage out to 14-6 as both Janicenoks and Donatas Zavackas had 5 points to that point. Berzins’s free throws made it a double-digit game, 18-8, and his two-point basket increased the margin although Artland soon cut it to 27-19 after one quarter. Popovic scored three straight baskets for Artland and Johannes Strasser’s score brought the Dragons to within 31-27 in the second quarter. The deficit was still 33-29 until Rowland pushed Riga back to an eight-points difference at 37-29. Daniels scored just before the break to give Riga a 43-34 advantage going into the locker room.

Daniels scored to start the second half, too, pushing the lead back to 11 points. But the Dragons were back to within 45-42 after consecutive Riga turnovers resulted in a three-point shot by Mallet and three-point play by Taylor. Dairis Bertans answered with a triple for Riga and another Janicenoks long ball pushed the hosts back ahead by double digits, 55-44. Artland could get no closer than the rest of the third quarter that the seven-point difference that ended it, 61-54. Strasser’s three-ball got Artland back within 63-57 early in the final quarter. But Riga responded with 6 of 6 free throws to off-set a triple from Mallet. A long ball and 2 foul shots by Janicenoks increased the advantage to 76-60 with less than 5 minutes to play. Although they did cut the difference to 8 points with 23 seconds remaining, Artland ran out of time on the game and it’s chances for the Last 16. Riga will now fight next week against Le Mans for the chance to advance.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Eurocupbasketball.com
No results found.
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; LOPES, LUIS; ZASHCHUK, SERGEY
Attendance: 2000 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
VEF Riga27161822
Artland Dragons19152018
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VEF Riga27436183
Artland Dragons19345472
VEF Riga
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ROWLAND, EARL 29:04 12 5/8 0/2 2/2   4 4 6   3     2 4 16
9 JAHOVICS, GATIS 20:06     0/1   1 2 3   1       4 1  
11 STRELNIEKS, ARTURS 8:02 6 1/3 1/1 1/2 1 1 2         2 1 1 3
12 JANICENOKS, KRISTAPS 24:18 19 3/5 3/4 4/4       2 1 1     3 4 19
13 LOUCKS, LUKE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 BERZINS, KASPARS 20:53 11 4/7 0/1 3/4 2 4 6 1   2 1   3 5 14
15 DANIELS, WILL 23:24 12 5/7 0/1 2/2 1   1       1 2 3 3 9
20 BLAUS, LAURIS 7:32 1   0/1 1/2   1 1           1 1  
21 KAVALIAUSKAS, ANTANAS 14:42 4 2/4     1 1 2 1   1 1 1 4 1 1
32 PASECNIKS, ANZEJS 0:57 2 1/1     1   1 1             4
41 ZAVACKAS, DONATAS 26:56 9 1/2 1/4 4/4 2 4 6 2   1 1 1 3 4 13
45 BERTANS, DAIRIS 24:06 7 1/2 1/4 2/2 1 3 4 2 1 1       3 12
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 83 23/39 6/19 19/22 12 21 33 15 3 9 4 6 24 27 94
        59% 31.6% 86.4%
Head coach: BUTAUTAS, RAMUNAS
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
Artland Dragons
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 HAYNES, MARQUEZ 32:39 8 1/3 2/6 0/1 1 2 3 3   4     4 4 3
5 GOMES, RYAN 25:59 6 0/4 1/3 3/4   4 4 1   1     2 3 4
6 KING, ANTHONY 20:44 8 4/8     1 2 3 1     4 2 1 1 10
8 HOFFMANN, CHRISTIAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 STRASSER, JOHANNES 18:19 5 1/2 1/4         1   2   1 4   -5
10 NJEI, ACHA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 GRUNHEID, GUIDO 14:01   0/1     2 1 3 1     2   4 2 3
20 MALLET, DEMOND 29:02 15 1/3 3/3 4/4   1 1 3   2   1 3 4 15
33 DREVO, ANDREW DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
35 KERUSCH, SERGIO 13:11 4 1/1 0/1 2/2 1 1 2   1       4 3 5
44 TAYLOR, BRYCE 26:49 14 3/4 1/3 5/5   1 1 3   2     3 4 14
55 POPOVIC, PETAR 19:16 12 6/7               2     2 3 10
Team           2 7 9     1         8
Totals 200:00 72 17/33 8/20 14/16 7 19 26 13 1 14 6 4 27 24 67
        51.5% 40% 87.5%
Head coach: KOCH, STEFAN

Head Coaches

BUTAUTAS, RAMUNAS
VEF Riga
“Congratulations to all our fans and supporters. This was a very important game, because now our fate is still in our hands. So it all will depend on how well we will get ready for the game in France. But first and foremost, we will think about our upcoming game. In the beginning of this game, we got a lead by playing fast basketball, while later we kept it by playing smart ball. Limiting turnovers and playing team ball was the key for us. We have a tight schedule, but we must be ready.”
KOCH, STEFAN
Artland Dragons
“First of all, congratulations to Riga, who deserved to win. Over the 40-minute period they were a better team. The first quarter was pretty decisive, where we just couldn’t find the right defensive approach. Now we are going through difficult period, because it was our third loss in a row. We haven’t been playing well. This was the first game for Ryan Gomes, so everything wasn’t in harmony as far as our offensive and defensive concepts. We have to take this loss as the end of our Eurocup season. We blew our chances in first two games at home against Riga and later in Moscow, where we lost in overtime.”

Players

JANICENOKS, KRISTAPS
VEF Riga
“I’m happy about the win. Going into this game we knew what to expect. Now we have to focus on our upcoming game this weekend and only after it we will think about the game in France.”
MALLET, DEMOND
Artland Dragons
“We fought hard, but we just didn’t come through. Hats off to Riga, because they played well. We kept fighting and got closer, but it was too late.”