EUROBASKET NEWS REPORT - 1/21/2008
Copyright © 1997-2007 EurobasketMen News
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Liege Basket has released guard Chris Rodgers (193-G-84, college: Arizona) effective immediately.
The team is looking for a replacement.
Antwerp Giants releases Argentinian forward Gabriel Mikulas (201-F-80, agency: Interperformances, college: E.Carolina).
Ayinde Ubaka has been signed for the rest of the season.
The Antwerp Giants Uleb Game vs Moscow will take place on tuesday at 20.00 instead of 20.30.
Guangdong and Dongguan swept their first round playoff series 3-0 while Jiangsu and Liaoning held 2-1 leads in theirs.
Wang Shipeng scored 28 points, Jason Dixon scored 25 and Zhu Fangyu scored 24 as Guangdong scored a 112-108 overtime victory over Zhejiang Guangsha. Chen Jianghua played 34 minutes compared to 18 for Liu Xiaoyu and 3 for Zhang Zhe. Chen had 11 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 turnovers. Rodney White led Guangsha with 34 points and 9 rebounds. Zhang Nan scored 22 and Yu Junkai scored 20. Garnett Thompson had 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Bayi and Liaoning played their third straight game where the winning team's margin was one point. This time Bayi was the victor, 96-95, as it narrowed Liaoning's lead in the series to 2-1. Mo Ke (209-C-82) had one of his rare good games this season as he led Bayi with 21 points and 7 rebounds. Wang Zhizhi had 17 points and 8 rebounds while Li Nan had 20 points and 7 rebounds. Jamal Sampson led Liaoning with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Yang Ming appears to have taken over for Zhang Qingpeng at point guard and had 16 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
Tang Zhengdong had 30 points and 14 rebounds to lead Jiangsu to a 110-102 victory over Fujian and a 2-1 lead in the series. Zhang Cheng added 20 points. Hu Xuefeng had 16 points, 9 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals and only 1 turnover. But Lu Xiaoming still won the battle of short, experienced, pass-first point guards as he dished out 20 assists to only 3 turnovers. He also had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals. Liu Yudong led Fujian's scoring with 25 points and Gong Songlin added 24.
Dongguan defeated Shandong 111-97 to win its series 3-0. With the game tied after three quarters, Dongguan outscored Shandong 38-24 in the fourth to oust Shandong from the playoffs. Mike Harris led the way with 29 points and 14 rebounds while Anthony Myles contributed 26 points and 6 rebounds. Qiu Biao scored 21 points and Zhang Kai had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Mack Tuck led Shandong with 33 points and 9 rebounds. Herve Lamizana was held to 9 points and 7 rebounds. Wu Ke, 209 cm from the class of 1990, had 12 points and 7 rebounds before fouling out in 32 minutes. Cao Zhenhua only played three minutes, and Wu replaced him inside. Wu spent a season at the USBA camp in Oregon and is a player to watch next season.
Guangdong 112 OT
Chen Jianghua 11p+7r+5a+3to, Zhu Fangyu 24p+8r+4a+3s+7to, Wang Shipeng 28p+2r+4a+3s, Jason Dixon 25p+10r+2a+3s+1bl, Ji Le 2p+6r+1s, Liu Xiaoyu 2p+3s, Zhou Peng 9p+3r+1s, Du Feng 11p+5r+2a
Guangsha 108
Yao Peng 8p+1r+2s+1bl, Rodney White 34p+9r+2a+2s+5to, Yu Junkai 20p+1r, Zhang Nan 22p+6r+3a+2s, Ying Kui 7p+2r+3a+1s+6fl, Li Meng 2p+5r+1a+1s, Garnett Thompson 15p+15r+4a+2s+2bl
Bayi 96
Li Nan 20p+7r+3a+3s+1bl+5to, Mo Ke 21p+7r+2a+2s+2bl, Wang Zhongguang 5p+2r+3a+3s+3to, Wang Zhizhi 17p+8r+1a+5s+2bl, Wang Lei 15p+1r+5a+3s+1bl, Li Ke 8p+1a, Hu Ke 4p+1r, Yao Kaifu 6p+1r+3a+1s+3to,
Liaoning 95
Bian Qiang 19p+3a+4s, Liu Xiangtao 8p, Yang Ming 16p+4r+5a+4s+3to, Li Xiaoxu 14p+8r+3s, Olumide Oyedeji 11p+9r+2s+1bl, Gu Liye 4p+1r+1s, Jamal Sampson 21p+15r+2a+1s
Fujian- 27 17 28 30 102
Jiangsu 37 25 16 32 110
Jiangsu 110
Ryan Forehan-Kelly 11p+4r+5a+2s+6fl, Zhang Cheng 20p+3r, Tang Zhengdong 30p+14r+2a+2s, Hu Xuefeng 16p+9r+10a+4s+1to, Yi Li 11p+5r+2s+2bl, Yang Li 13p+2r+2a, Jon Smith 9p+6r+2a+2s
Fujian 102
Gong Songlin 24p+4r+1a, Lu Xiaoming 9p+4r+20a+4s+3to, Yang Chao 13p+2r+2a+1s, Liu Yudong 25p+7r+1a+1bl, Jameel Watkins 13p+14r+1bl, DaJuan Tate 18p+5r+2s
Dongguan 23 23 27 38 111
Shandong 22 25 26 24 97
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Dongguan 111
Wang Yong1 2p+2r+2a+1s, Mike Harris 29p+14r+2a+1s+1bl, Anthony Myles 26p+6r+1a+2s+1bl, Wang Jing 13p+3r+1a+1s, Qiu Biao 21p+3r+5a+1bl, Zhang Kai 16p+12r
Shandong 97
Herve Lamizana 9p+7r+2a, Mack Tuck 33p+9r+5a+1s+1bl, Wu Ke 32min+12p+7r+1a+1s+3bl+6fl, Sun Jie 13p+3r+3s, Wang Gang 7p+4r+0a+1to, Lou Yandong 16p+4r+2a+1s+1bl, Li Lin 4p+3r+1a, Hou Bing 18min+3p+4r+2a+1s+6fl
In spite of the fact that three months have been lost, because of injury in 2007, Giorgi Shermadini (216-C-89) has finished a year with brilliant results. In two seasons of Super League he averaged 30 points, 17 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 block shots. These parameters have appeared the best in comparison with parameters of the other best players in different leagues in Europe.
It is not surprising, that almost all experts of Georgian basketball have recognized him as the best basketball player of 2007. On celebratory evening all present have congratulated him on the big victory and success. In history of basketball it is probably the first case that someone wins the Basketball Player of a Year award after an incomplete 3 years of playing that sport. Such is the resident of small village Natakhtari, Mtskheta region, a member of basketball club 'Maccabi Tbilisi' Giorgi Shermadini.
www.shermadini.ge
The 15th week can easily characterised as the visitors day as most games ended with road wins. The results in details were:
Doukas - Near East 71-74
Quarters: 22-18, 43-37, 60-55, 71-74
Near East of Coach Karnesis manage to succeed a great road win at the end in a real derby where the home team of Coach Linoxilakis prove to be tough nut, at the end Doukas claimed a three pointer in a buzzer beater which was not counted by the referees.
Top scorers:
Doukas: Alexandros Petrakis (200-F-87) 20 points, Kritsalos 15 and Matzioris 12
Near East: Christoforos Lykogianis (197-F-82) 20 points, Papoulidis 13 and Sizopoulos 8.
Makedonikos - KAOD 74-86
Quarters: 16-32, 40-44, 54-54, 74-86
The Drama team of Coach Grigoriadis succeeded another road win over one of the worst teams in the league, with Giorgos Filiousis (198-G-77) being the top performer. The game was a derby for more than 34 minutes but then and on Michalis Tanakidis (190-G-81) and Dalpas stopped scoring and Makedonikos collapsed.
Top scorers:
Makedonikos: Michalis Tanakidis 20, Dalpas 15, Samourelis and Kogias 11 each and Mitsakis 10
KAOD: Giorgos Filiousis 34 points, Koukouravas 17 and Bourdanos 11.
Komotini - Lavrio 71-76
Quarters: 21-18, 38-36, 52-50, 71-76
Serelis's Lavrio succeeded another road win and is definitely among the strongest teams in the league, the amazing part is that its exactly the same team which won the league of the third division, last season in the South Group B. Nick Psileas (200-F-80) and Giannakopoulos were amazing for another week, they led their team to a very crucial victory over Lemonidis's Komotini who had as top performer Giannis Mouzakitis (182-G-83).
Top scorers:
Komotini: Giannis Mouzakitis 18 points, Holevas 10 points.
Lavrio: Nick Psileas 21 points, Giannakopoulos 16 points, Tsiros 11 points and Bakas 15 points
Aigio - Anagennisi/Floga 74-72
Quarters: 14-16, 34-30, 53-51, 74-72
Anotehr great derby took place in Aigio where the home team with Prokos in a great form beat Anagennisi at the end. The game was a real derby among two equal teams.
Top scorers:
Aigio: Prokos 31 points, Liggos 11 points
Amyntas - Alimos 86-64
Quarters: 26-15, 44-32, 68-48, 86-64
The home team of Coach Vlahos was leading the game from the early beginning and took difference of even 30 points, with great team work having 5 players with double digits.
Top scorers:
Amyntas: Barbas 13 points, Grammatikos 13 points and Dorkofikis 11 points
Alimos: Tsolatos 20 points, Tzougarakis 10 points and Anthis 11 points
Ikaros - Ermis Lagkada 77-57
Quarters: 16-12, 36-26, 55-40, 77-57
Coach Haritatos team thrashed Ermis Lagkada with an amazing fourth quarter. Emmanouilidis was really great while Coach Karadimos's team had in a bad day his top performer Papakonstantinou who remained to 13 points.
Top scorers:
Ikaros: Emmanouilidis 23 points, Karastamatis 13 points and Katoufas 11 points
Ermis: Papakonstantinou 13 points and Katoufas 11 points
Olympiakos Volou - Ikaroi 77-87
Quarters: 14-25, 30-50, 53-77, 77-87
Ikaroi took an early lead and with Sdrakas in an amazing day kept it until the end of the game
Top scorers:
Olympiajkos Volou: Nanis 20 points, Politis 16 points and Tsourelis 12 points
Ikaroi: Sdrakas 28 points, Topouzis 18 points and Tsanakas 18 points
Milonas - Goumenisa 101-106
Quarters: 19-21, 47-39, 70-71, 101-106
207 points in a second division game is really a very rear result, the two teams played a run and gun game with the visitors being better at the final crucial seconds getting a victory which seemed to be lost upon the first quarter when Coach Paralikas team, having in great day Karababas took a lead even to 15 points.
Top scorers:
Milonas: Kalaitzakis 21 points, Karababas 32 points, Ballas 19 points and Vlavianos 17 points
Goumenisa: Gotsos 21 points, Andreadis 22 points, Klepkos 19 points and Bagi 11 points
Top scorers after 14 weeks:
Dimitris Prokos (192-G-74) of Aigio 324 points
Panagiotis Nanis (195-F/G-80) of Olympiakos Volou 276 points (in 14 games)
Nick Psileas (200-F-80) of Lavrio 270 points
Panagiotis Tsolis (194-F-81) of Olympiakos Volou 253 points (in 14 games)
Giorgos Tirlas (198-F-80) of Aigio 243 points
Konstantinos Pehlivanis (192-G-79) of Ikaroi Serron 230 points
Giorgos Filiousis (198-G-77) of KAOD 228 points
Nicos Papakonstantinou (182-G-84) of Ermis Lagkada 223 points
Sotiris Katoufas (206-F-79) of Ikaros Kallitheas 222 points
Michalis Tanakidis (190-G-81) of Makedonikos 219 points
Tassos Baggi (187-G-75) of Goumenissa 217 points
Kostas Dinas (189-G/F-80) of Komotini 202 points
Tasos Dimitriadis (201-C-82) of Ermis Lagkada 201 points
Dimitris Karatzios (202-F-78) of Doukas 176 points
Mihalis Ifantis (204-F-72) of Alimos 163 points
Nikos Moisiadis (180-G-80) of Anagennisi Floga 160 points
Dionysios Giannakopoulos (195-G/F-82) of Lavrio 160 points
Theologos Vlavianos (196-G-86) of Milonas 160points
(191-G-83, college: SE Missouri St.) led all scorers with 26 pts. ZZ are now 10-12.
(203-F-85, agency: Worldwide Hoops, college: Fairleigh Dickinson) led six West-Brabant players in double figures with 18 pts. Den Helder's Dane Bradshaw
(193-G-84, agency: Court Side, college: Tennessee) led all scorers with 22 pts. West-Brabant Giants are now on a roll, winning its 4th straight game and are 2nd in the FEB standings at 14-7.
(210-C/F-78, agency: Court Side, college: St.Bonaventure) led the charge for MyGuide, with a double-double (18 pts., 10 rebounds) to lead five MyGuide players in double figures. Ashley Champion
(198-F-81, college: Chattanooga) led all scorers with 19 pts. MyGuide are now 18-4 and Upstairs fall to 11-10.
In the Horstacker on Saturday night, Matrixx Magixx played a heck of a 1st half, running Hanzevast Capitals out of the gym, but in the 2nd half made it difficult for themselves, with Hanzevast making an incredible 4th quarter run. In the end, Matrixx did what was needed to get the win, winning by the score of 105-96.
In the 1st quarter, Matrixx forward Chris Copeland (203-F-84, agency: 540 Sports, college: Colorado) set the tone of the game for Matrixx, scoring on easy drives, scoring 12 points within the first five minutes, staking Matrixx to an early 17-9 lead. Copeland managed to catch the ball easily in his comfortable spots with little resistance from his defender, which was an omen for things to come for Hanzevast. Not long after Copeland's early run, teammates Todd Abernethy
(185-G-84, college: Mississippi) and Alhaji Mohammed (192-G-81, agency: Beo Basket, college: Louisville) found their favorite spots on the floor and direction to the basket at ease, with Donar playing at times matador defense, not able to protect the basket and staying in front of the dribbler, and too late rotations. With Abernethy, Mohammed and Antoine Jordan
(195-G-83, college: Siena) athleticism hurting Hanzevast's perimeter defense, this opened up things for the Dutch combination of reserves Thijs Vermeulen
(192-F-85) and ex-Hanzevast player Sjors Poels
(210-C-86, agency: R.H.Consultancy). Poels, who rarely played last season in a Hanzevast uniform, came into the game at the end of the 1st quarter smoking, making his mark with two consecutive dunks, including one over Guido Gruenheid
(206-F/C-82, agency: LimeLight) with a foul, and the other at the end of the 1st quarter to give Matrixx a 33-20 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.
At the start of the 2nd quarter Poels continued his stellar play, with another three-point play and a dunk to give Matrixx a 38-20 lead. By that moment, Hanzevast seemed to be unfocused not only on the court, but also in the huddle during a timeout, as manifested by the nonchalant attitude and bad body language in the huddle. Hanzevast head coach Pep Claros was visually frustrated, constantly subbing and unable to gain the right combinations on the floor. Matrixx's lead would snowball, with Vermeulen finding his rhythm from the three-point line, scoring 10 total pts. The trio of Copeland, Abernethy and Mohammed kept getting to the rim at ease, helping lead Matrixx to a 62-33 lead at halftime (Matrixx 27-14 rebounding advantage, Poels/Vermeulen both 10 pts. each, 22-4 bench scoring advantage).
In the 3rd quarter Matrixx continued to lead by a huge margin (biggest lead at 74-43 on a Mohammed layup), with their superior athleticism on the wings continuing to work for them, capped off by an alley-oop dunk by Mohammed from a Jordan pass at 4:05. Some of the Hanzevast players would begin to step up their play, with
Raoul Heinen
(196-G-80, agency: Court Side, college: George Mason) having a big 3rd quarter run (10 pts.), with Alton Mason
(185-G-77, agency: Court Side, college: Arizona St.) and Kevin Melson
(199-F-78, college: Wright St.) also gaining more confidence, but Matrixx still had too big of a cushion, with a Tyler Smith
(203-F-80, agency: Players Group, college: Penn St.) runner at the buzzer making it 98-61 for Matrixx. There was a protest from the Hanzevast bench whether or not the basket was before the buzzer, but it was declared a basket by the lead official.
In the 4th quarter, Hanzevast showed their true grit, taking advantage of Matrixx's lost edge and chipping away at Matrixx's big lead piece-by-piece. Claros' patience paid off, with Hanzevast making first a 20-7 run within the first six minutes of the 4th quarter to bring themselves to 96-84. The lineup Claros inserted of Mason, Melson, Grunheid, Heinen and Stefan Mladenovic
(188-G-90) paid dividends, with Melson making a three-pointer to bring Hanzevast closer at 96-87. Hanzevast got some good looks but could not convert them, but were far from being out. Hanzevast's defense forced Matrixx to twice turn the ball over, on an inbounds play. Mason penetrated the basket with success, making 5 of 6 free throws to bring Hanzevast to within four at 100-96 with 24.2 seconds remaining. After a Matrixx miss, Hanzevast had a great three-point look for Heinen, but unfortunately for Hanzevast Heinen's shot rimmed out, and Hanzevast were forced to foul. Both Jordan and Smith would combine to make 3 of 4 free throws, and a Mohammed layup would seal the deal for Matrixx. Mohammed led Matrixx with 22 pts. on 10-12 FG, with Copeland adding 19 pts., 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Abernethy added 16 pts. and 6 assists, and Jordan had a double-double with 14 pts. and 13 rebounds. Melson led all scorers with 28 pts., Mason added 23 pts., Grunheid with 21 pts. and 10 rebounds and Heinen with 18. Matrixx moves to 14-8 in the FEB standings, while Hanzevast falls to 11-9.
Jan. 20
BOT 102-90 Yulon
BOT: Chang Bo-shen 21p, Hsu Chi-chan 13p+12rb, Lin Chih-long 14p, Lin Tsun-ching 14p, Chou Ben-tang 10p+7rb
Yulon: Chen Hsin-an 25p+11rb+5a, Lee Chi-yi 17p+11rb
PY 85-77 TM
PY: James Mao 23p+12rb, Chien Jia-hong 23p, Zuo Tsun-kai 21p
TM: Lai Kuo-hong 16p+14rb, Hsu Wei-shen 14p+7rb, Wu Yong-jen 15p, Hsu Tse-shin 12p
dmedia 82-62 TB
dmedia: Wang Nan-kuei 18p, Lin Kwan-lun 16p, J. Sanders 14p+16rb+6a+4s
TB: Ho Sho-jen 16p, Yang Chin-min 13p, Lin Chih-jay 11p, Wu Dai-hao 8p+4rb+6blk
Jan. 19
BOT 78-69 TM
BOT: Chang Bo-sheng 38p(10-15 3PT), Hsu Chi-chan 9p+11rb+4blk
TM: Wu Min-hsien 21p, Hsu Wei-shen 13p
Yulon 96-88 PY
Yulon: Chen Hsin-an 23p+11rb+7a, Lee Chi-yi 23p, Chou Shih-yuan 20p
PY: Chien Jia-hong 27p+8rb, James Mao 13p, Chen Shi-jay 11p
TB 77-67 Dacin
TB: Lin Chih-jay 18p, Wu Dai-hao 16p, Yang Chin-min 13p, Ho Sho-jen 12p
Dacin: Lin Yi-huei 20p, Chang Chi-feng 13p, Yue Ying-li 13p, Wang Chih-chun 12p+6rb+4a+5s
Jan. 18
Dacin 93-83 dmedia
Dacin: Wang Chih-chun 25p+7rb, Chang Chi-feng 16p+5rb+6a, Lin Yi-huei 16p
dmedia: Ouyang Jin-hen 25p, J. Sanders 16p+14rb+7a+3s
PY 114-87 BOT
PY: Chien Jia-hong 16p+7rb, Lin Jin-ban 13p, James Mao 13p, Chen Shi-jay 12p+9rb+9a+6s, Chen Jun-jay 12p
BOT: Hsu Chi-chan 21p+11rb+7blk, Chien Ming-fu 20p, Hu Yu-wei 11p, Chang Jung-hsuan 11p
Women News
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SM-sarja, Round 21-22: Three games today. Catz (Lappeenranta) visited in Airport City Vantaa and crushed over PuHu (Vantaa) by 23 pts. Catz had three
players in double figures, but PuHu had only Heli Roukanoja (186-C-73) over 10 pts. Huima (Aanekoski) defeated at home BC Nokia by 13 pts. Huima's Kenya Robinson (182-C-70, college: New Orleans) (the leading scorer in the league) is still going strong: 20 pts and 17 rbs. PeKa (Kotka) was visiting capital City Helsinki. YMCA Helsinki arranged an upset, when beating PeKa by seven pts 84-77. Niina Laaksonen (185-F/C-85) was the game MVP: 29 pts and 22 rbs! YMCA Helsinki played with Finnish players. PeKa playing again with three Americans, when also Jillianne Duffey (183-F-85, college: Texas A&M - C.C.) had joined the roster. Duffey didn't feel at home yet: two pts and one rebound in 11 minutes. YMCA Helsinki had 21TOs (PeKa only eight), but home Team won the rebounds 55-38 and that + Niina Laaksonen helped into victory.
YMCA Helsinki - PeKa 84-77 (47-40) (Niina Laaksonen 29/22, Laura Toivonen 16 - Shanika Freeman 20/10, Dionne Pounds 19).
PuHu - Catz 58-81 (31-40) (Heli Roukanoja 24 - Tamara Tatham 24/11, Yelena Solovyeva 22/11).
Huima - BC Nokia 72-59 (37-27) (Kenya Robinson 20/17, Chrystal Erwin 20 - Sherry McCracklin 17/19, Joanna Rhoads 14).