EUROBASKET NEWS REPORT - 4/4/2008

Copyright © 1997-2007 Eurobasket
WARNING:
Do not copy, redistribute, publish or otherwise exploit information that you download from the site!
Do not encumber, license, modify, publish, sell, transfer or transmit, or in any way exploit, any of the
content of the report, nor will you attempt to do so.
More info:www.eurobasket.com


Men News

*****************************************************
ADRIATIC LEAGUE

Mijajlovic reinforces Vojvodina Srbijagas -by Nenad Ilijev
Vojvodina Srbijagas management signed one more inside player in attempt to completely cover departure of Vladimir Golubovic (212-C-86). After Uros Mirkovic (205-F/C-82), the Tulips have signed Sasa Mijajlovic (211-C-80, college: Hutchinson JC) who played in Omonia Nicosia recently. Team from Novi Sad have a goal to reach 5th place in Serbian Superleague which enables playing in NLB League next season. Vojvodina Srbijagas also added Serbian U16 NT member Nemanja Besovic (211-C-92) to senior team.

Borac gets help from FMP Zeleznik -by Nenad Ilijev
Borac Cacak, farm team of FMP Zeleznik, got a great addition to its roster for Superleague clashes. Cacak-born Djordje Micic (196-G-83) will help his former team in an effort to make the fifth spot and play in NLB League next season. He played 13 games in NLB League this season averaging 4.0ppg and 1.1rpg. He was a member of Serbian University NT that took part at The World University Championships in Bangkok last summer.
Borac also got one more player for Superleague - talented guard Radenko Pilcevic (188-G-86).

City of Ljubljana will be the host of Final 4 -by Dragan Jankovski
Management board of Adriatic league made a decision about the Final 4. The tournament will be held in Slovenian capital Ljubljana. It is a kind of compromise by the league's management. The final four tournament will take a place from 25th to 27th of April in Ljubljana's arena Tivoli.

Ljubljana will be the host city of the Final 4 for the third time. First Final 4 tournament was held in Tivoli on 2002 when Olimpija became a champion while a year later Zadar won it.

*****************************************************
ARGENTINA

LSB Regatas won in Brazil -by Ana Soifer
Regatas Corrientes beat Universo/BRB Brasilia by 84 to 83.
Regatas Corrientes from Corrientes, Argentina won on the road a hard game, having next week winning a game at home, the possibilities to be the first team in the finals for the South American League.
The travel started complicate for the Argentineans because their Americans Chuckie Robinson and Ramzee Stanton couldn't travel with the team about Visa problem but appear Regatas Corrientes no make any excuses to try and play hard to always get the victory.
Players Score: Javier Martinez (189-G-78) 26, Juan Manuel Rivero (192-G-85) 19, Diego Cavaco (202-F-79) 13, Roberto Lopez (199-F/C-76) 10, Alejandro Montecchia (180-G-72, agency: Interperformances) 8, Milton Temute 6 and Carabajal with 2 points.

Liga A. Reclassification series: 4th Game -by Ana Soifer
Quimsa and El Nacional are the first classified for the quarterfinals

El Nacional won on the road by 79 to 73 to Ben Hur, putting the series 3-1. They going to play Penarol starting next week in Mar del Plata. Ben Hur Finishes the season in the 14th place.
Ben Hur (73): Starters: Gustavo Martin 10, David Harrison 17, Eduardo Calvelli 7, Durelle Brown 11, Ruperto Herrera 11; off the bench: Felipe Ederra 6, Elias Saad 5, Sebastian Uranga 6
El Nacional (79): Starters:, Mariano Castets 13, Patricio Rodriguez 3, Mike Manciel 6, Federico Ferrini 20, Djibril Kante 24; Off the bench: Cristian Amicucci 2, Fabian Sahdi 2, Byron Wilson 9

Gimnasia from Comodoro couldn't repeat the victory from last night and lost at home saying good bye to this complicated season for them. Quimsa is waiting up to Sunday to see who they are going to play for quarter finals.
Gimnasia y Esgrima (84): Starters: Diego Alba 8, Charles Jones 14, Bruno Ingratta 10, Diego Prego (198-F-77) 21, Jimmy Boston 14; Off the bench: Ariel Eslava 5, Sebastian Festa 3 Federico Mansilla 5, Matias Fioretti 4
Quimsa (92): Starters: Jonatan Triese 10, Julio Mazzaro 28, Cleotis Brown 13, William McFarlan (201-F-76, college: St.Thomas Aquinas) 18, Gabriel Mikulas 9; Off the bench: Andres Rodriguez 2, Alejandro Reinick 3, Sebastian Castineira 9

Unbelieve series between Sionista and Obras, they both won their game on the road.
Obras won over sionista by 66 to 65 forcing the 5th game next Sunday in Obras court.
Sionista (65): Starters: Mariano Byro 12, Juan Cantero 12, Michael Robinson 8, Alejandro Zilli 9, Alejandro Burgos 2; Off the bench: Agustin Carnovalle 2, Pablo Jaworsky 0, Antwon Hall (193-G-74, agency: Naiditch Entertainment, college: Life) 16, Daniel Hure 4
Obras (66): Starters: Fernando Titarelli 11, Gabriel Cocha 6, Chris Jeffries 7, Fernando Calvi 10, Tyler Field 11; Off the bench: Lazaro Borrell (202-F-72, agency: Interperformances) 15, Daniel Chaer 0, Facundo Venturini 3, Cristian Cortes 3

LSB Boca got the 1st game -by Ana Soifer
Boca Juniors beat the Brazilian team, Flamengo, in Argentina by 100 to 88.
The Argentineans started better in the first half thanks to a good job in the low post getting more defends rebounds; despite on the great offends of the Brazilian Marcelinho Liao (182-G-83) who finishes the game with 41 points.
In the second half was the same, this time with good 3 points shoots to allow Boca get more difference in the score. The Brazilians put the game only with 4 points different between them in the last minutes; with pressing in all court but Boca stills with great percentage in the 3 points line finishes the game in their favour thinking on next Tuesday when they will play the second game this time in Brazil.

Boca Juniors (100): Luis Cequeira 1, Devon Ford (193-G-77, agency: Huss Sport Agency, college: Idaho) 21, Gustavo Orona (196-G-75) 12, Leonardo Gutierrez (200-F-78) 24, Gabriel Fernandez (204-C-76) 20 (FI), Alejandro Alloatti 4, Raymundo Legaria 9, Fernando Funes 7, Grady Reynolds 2, Lionel Schattmann 0. D.T: Gabriel Piccato.

Flamengo (88): Helio 2, Duda 7, Marcelinho Liao 41, Alirio 7, Coloneze 6 (FI), Fernando 0, Fred 5, Vega 20. D.T: Paulo Texeira

*****************************************************
BAHRAIN

MUHARRAQ WIN GAME 1 -by Yousef Ahmed

MUHARRAQ put on a blistering perimeter-shooting display in a well-deserved 86-76 win over Manama last night to take a one-game lead in the Bahrain Basketball League finals series. The victors used a high-scoring third quarter to take control of a closely contested affair and gain the early advantage in the best-of-three championship.

Star forward Mohammed Hassan (194-F-79), who scored 24 points, gave Muharraq a 67-52 lead after the decisive third quarter, when they blew a close game wide open.

The lanky forward connected on a desperation heave from well beyond the three-point arc just before the quarter buzzer, making one of the team's 15 three-pointers in the contest. Hassan finished with a team-high six.

'We practise our three-pointers every day,' Muharraq head coach John Wojtak told the GDN after the match. 'We practise with whoever comes to training in the morning, then we practise some more during the afternoon.

'We have a good number of guys who can score from long-range, and fortunately we were able to make several tonight. We really didn't talk about it too much before the game, but whenever we penetrate and there's nothing there, we knew we could kick it out and knock it down.'

After taking a 41-36 lead at halftime, Muharraq built a double-digit edge late in the third with deadly marksmanship from Hassan and veterans Abdulmajeed Shahram and Yasser Bu Naffour, who each scored from beyond the arc in successive possessions.

Hassan then ended the period with his wild attempt for a 15-point advantage.

Manama point guard Mohammed Hussain then went on a scoring rampage to start the final quarter.

He scored 11 straight points to help his team cut the deficit to 64-72 midway through.

But his Muharraq counterpart Mohammed Abdulmajeed made a driving lay-up to extend the lead once more, and American import Rah-Shaun Roberts hit another three, his only one of the game, for an 83-70 advantage with less than two minutes left.

Muharraq were then able to make their free-throws in the closing minutes to secure the win.

'It was a good game for us but we know Manama can still come back,' Wojtak said. 'We are going to treat this as if we were 0-1 down, and we will come out again to fight in the next game.'

Roberts finished with 20 points and 18 rebounds, while Abdulmajeed had 17 and Shahram 13.

Hussain paced Manama with 24 points including four three-pointers. Mahmood Nawrooz added 17 points, and US professional Donald Little finished with 15 points 21 rebounds. Manama made only eight triples in the contest, to be outscored by 21.

Game two will be played on Monday at the same venue, followed by the third and decisive contest, if needed, next Thursday.

SOURCE: GDN

*****************************************************
BARBADOS

Motara sinks Bulls with last second free throws. -by Justin Marville
Even the older Clapham stalwarts are finding ways to add to the Bulls' forgettable first round.

Getting the advantage of two successive mental errors from Clapham's veteran players, national shooting guard Zahir Motara scored four consecutive free throws within the space of seven seconds as the reigning double crowned champs Lumber Company Lakers overcame a dubious three point deficit to record a tense 64-63 victory in the Sprite/BOA Premier League at the Wildey Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

Leading 63-60 with 14.5 seconds left in regulation, the Clapham side merely had to avoid giving up a subsequent three point play, an uncontested shot from behind the arc or worse yet, a foul on an opposing three point shooter.

To the Bulls' anguish, veteran forward Mark Foster just happened to pick the last of the three.

Inexplicably reaching in on an ensuing, off-balance Motara three point attempt, the former national stalwart caught the Lakers shooting guard on the wrist, sending the island's best foul line shooter to the charity stripe for three free throws and a chance to tie the game.

Motara would gladly oblige, sinking all three foul shots to lock the scores at 63 with seven ticks remaining on the clock; time enough though for the Bulls to atone for their grave error at the other end of the floor.

However, fellow former national player Ryan Leacock would only further add to Clapham's grief, missing a subsequent runner in the lane after taking on two defenders at the top of the arc, only to commit another unfathomable foul on Motara eighty feet away from the basket after the diminutive Lakers guard hauled in the ensuing rebound.

With less than a second left in the game Motara made sure the opposition would not get a chance to win or force overtime though, intentionally missing the second free throw after making the first that gave his side the lead; ensuring the Bulls had no opportunity of calling a time-out to run an inbounds play.

Earlier in the contest, centre Andre Boadu overpowered the smaller Clapham frontcourt on the glass and at the offensive end as the Lakers executed well at both ends of the floor to take a 17-12 lead in the first quarter.

But the Bulls would bounce back in the ensuing period behind a greater half court defensive effort and a perimeter assault which featured Leacock and athletic swingman Halley Franklyn. The pair attacked the rack relentlessly, creating for themselves off the dribble while their opposition struggled to protect the ball against some oppressive Bulls' defence, registering eight turnovers in the period as Clapham took a 30-29 advantage by the half-time break.

However, Boadu would get going in the low blocks once again, pairing with Motara who stretched the opposing defence on the perimeter to pilot a resurgent Lakers offence as Clapham failed to sustain their defensive pressure from the previous quarter.

It did not help the Bulls' cause that their guards failed to get the ball on the inside to promising forward Alvin Padmore, relying solely on Leacock and younger brother Neil for most of their offence in the third. This resulted in Clapham falling behind by eight points, 43-51 by the end of the quarter and by as much as twelve early in the fourth as the reigning champs pressed home the advantage.

That advantage would quickly fade once the Bulls brought their renown, stifling defence however, allowing for easier opportunities at the other end as Padmore finally broke free of the Lakers' shackles when allowed to operate with a less crowded interior.

The athletic big man scored seven of his 10 points down the stretch of the fourth to key a crucial 15-3 Clapham lead that saw his team take their first lead since the first quarter at 62-58 with 2:15 to go.

In the night's first game, star British American Insurance Jackson swingman Peter Alleyne missed two free throws in the dying moments of the fourth allowing league leaders Playfair Warriors to walk away with an impelling 58-56 triumph despite the absence of leading scorer Corey McDonald.

David Smith led the way with 16 points while Ricardo Boyce top scored for the winless Jackson side with 13.

Motara sinks Bulls with last second free throws -by Justin Marville


Motara sinks Bulls with last second free throws -by Justin Marville


*****************************************************
BELGIUM

Division II - Second stage (1st and 2nd Round)) -by Bertrand Larsimont

Round 1 (played 2008-03-15 and 16)


Division A:

Sint-Jan Antwerp vs. BBC Falco Ghent 87-68
Falco Ghent was leading at the half: 40-44. Sint-Jan, led by Nick Verrept (19), Witse Van Schil (18) and Jochen Ceyssens (18), had an excellent fourth quarter and finally won the game. Thomas Foucart (191-G-84), who recently signed with Okapi Aalstar for next season, was the best scorer for his current team with 19 points.

BT Power Liefmans vs. Bent Schoenen Waregem 114-113
A real thrilling Flemish derby in Wevelgem. Steve Robeyst (38 points) was unstoppable for the hosts who finally won the game after four OTs. Tom Van de Keere (25) and Angelo Flanders (23) were also very present offensively for BT Power Liefmans Wevelgem. Jorn Steinbach (25), Bart Cleymans (25) and Wouter Dewilde (24) were the best scorers for BS Waregem.
Score evolution: 24-18, 49-35, 66-58, 85-85, 90-90, 96-96, 107-107 and finally 114-113.

Division B:

Xenia Tours Sint-Truiden vs. CEP Fleurus 67-81
Nice win for the visitors with Stephen Tison (176-G-84) as leading scorer in this game (19 points). Special mention also to Sam Semijejero (196-F/C-77) who grabbed 13 rebounds. Former NT player Herbert Baert (202-F-75) scored 16 points for Sint-Truiden.

Kangoeroes Willebroek vs. BBC Boom 79-71
Score evolution: 13-14, 33-30, 62-43 and 79-71.
Despite a nice fourth quarter by the visitors, Kangoeroes kept the lead until the final buzzer. Dave d'Haens (18) finished the game as best scorer for the hometeam.

Division C:

Royal Alsec Nivelles vs. De West Hoek Zwevezele 88-83
The arrival of US guard James Wade (180-G-75, college: Kennesaw St.) a few weeks ago seemed to be very helpful for Royal Alsec Nivelles. Short but nice win for the hometeam.

BC Ninane vs. Jaga Radiators Hasselt 89-96
Quarter by quarter score evolution: 14-29, 37-46, 63-70 and 89-96.

Round 2 (played on 2008-03-28, 29 and 30)

Division A:

BBC Falco Ghent vs. BT Power Liefmans Wevelgem 65-68
The visitors had an excellent first quarter. They kept the lead at the half: 33-39. Falco came back in the third quarter but Wevelgem, led by Angelo Flanders (20), finished stronger.

Bent Schoenen Waregem vs. Sint-Jan Antwerpen 86-98
Thomas Van De Vondel (27) and Witse Van Schil (25) were the top-scorers for the winning visitors.

Division B:

BBC Boom vs. Xenia Tours Sint-Truiden 96-72
BBC Boom was already leading by 26 at the half and never left any chance to their guests. Kenny Van Wert (206-C-82) was very efficient for the hometeam (31 points and 16 rebounds).

CEP Fleurus vs. Kangoeroes Willebroek 83-81
After having had a 20-point lead, CEP Fleurus could not avoid the nice comeback of Kangoeroes with a fantastic performance by former Belgian Lion Matthias Desaever (194-G/F-76, agency: Court Side) who scored 39 points (especially from long range). Nevertheless, Desaever's efficiency was not enough to make his team win. The guests missed a few good opportunities in the last seconds of the game indeed. Amaury Jadin (189-G-86) scored 18 points for CEP Fleurus.

Division C:

Jaga Radiators Hasselt vs. Royal Alsec Nivelles 94-69
There is no doubt that JR Hasselt with Cox and Vanhove as best scorers (23 points each) want to finish the season in a strong way. The hometeam did not give any chance to the visitors.

De West Hoek Zwevezele vs. BC Ninane 75-84
BC Ninane seems to be more succesful away than at home this season. The visitors were already leading 32-43 at the half and remained ahead until the end.

Rankings

Division A


Sint-Jan Antwerp 2-0
Wevelgem 2-0
Waregem 0-2
Falco Ghent 0-2

Division B

CEP Fleurus 2-0
BBC Boom 1-1
Kangoeroes Willebroek 1-1
Xenia Sint-Truiden 0-2

Division C

JR Hasselt 2-0
BC Ninane 1-1
RA Nivelles 1-1
West Hoek Zwevezele 0-2



*****************************************************
BULGARIA

Udo: I have always played in honour of CSKA -by Vladi Lazarova

One of the best players of CSKA was cut from the club, without explanation. The decision was made by 'Red' Board of Directors. The player is the first victim after the team's strike for money. The president Georgios Sterianopoulos and sports director Branislav Prelevic owe him two salaries, like to other four players, but they continue to lie this is not true. Here is the interview of Hadjisotirov given to 'Tema sport' daily newspaper in Bulgaria.

Udo, who informed you, that CSKA is releasing you?
- Boriana called me (Boriana is secretary of Sterianopoulos, his Greek-Bulgarian translator and member of Board of directors in CSKA and 'Interlogic' firm). I don't know exactly what is her position in the club. Briefly she told me, that from the name of the officials she must let me know I have been released. Without any kind of explanation and without telling me any motives.
Did Sterianopoulos, or Prelevic contacted you?
- No, none of them.
Do you plan to contact them?
- I don't think I must search a contact with them, because first of all I must receive an official written document with explained reasons by them for my releasing. Till then I have a contract and I continue to be a player of CSKA.
Do you have your personal point of view for their motives?
- I don't think they are of basketball nature. I am in a good shape. I practice and I play with the maximum fetch and I always give 120 percents of my qualities. In the last two months I never stopped working hard and giving my best on the court no matter I haven't been paid for February and March. I always reacted with dignity. I explained to Mister Prelevic my position. I refused him to sign a document CSKA doesn't owe me anything, because this is a lie. They owe me and four of my teammates salaries for two months. My labour haven't been paid since February and they know it very well. I think the fact I always defend my attitude wasn't accepted with pleasure from our president and sports director.
Did you speak with the coach?
- A little after Boriana called me. We spoke on the phone. He informed me he didn't know as well and they told him I am cut by phone, without letting him know what is the reason. I know he is in the hard position now and there is a lot of pressure over him. But I am sure he is using all ways to protect and keep the team.
Do you think it's possible they to blame you now, that you miss on purpose those free throws at the end of the game with Rilski sportist?
- I think everything is possible. But I would like to tell one thing. When I step at the court I always fight for the honour and in the name of CSKA. Because CSKA for me means a lot. I grown up like a kid in this club. And nobody can blame me, that I am betraying my team! I scored 19 points against Rilski sportist and before these final few seconds that was my best game this season on my opinion! I badly wanted the victory, I needed it for me, for my teammates, for our coaches, for our fans, who are the greatest. I did the best what I could and I fought for my name, for my dignity, no matter of money lack. I never thought I can miss two free throws. I never thought the game will turn into this point at the end. I played for CSKA sick and injured and it seems to me absurd somebody to blame me and suspect me in disposition acts.
You stopped practicing, because of these financial problems. Why you came back together in the gym two days later, when not all of you took their salaries?
- Because we respect CSKA and we respect ourselves. We decided to keep on playing and bear it a little bit more. To wait and hope for a positive end of the story. I would like here to say few words about my teammates. Georgi Davidov, Hristo Nikolov and Jivko Stoyanov are great guys, with great hearts and huge sence of human dignity. Like me, they are without salaries too. And Mike Henderson, who is injured as well.
What is the opinion of your agency 'AMI'?
- I informed them. In the beginning they were shocked. They tried to make a contact with the officials of CSKA, but without any success. Very soon they will come out with official note. Since then I can only tell my agency will fight for my rights and for the truth. They will protect me. Our position at the moment is since they don't give us well-grounded written explanation I am still a player of CSKA. My agency stopped me from practices and games only, because they owe me two salaries.



Shock in CSKA, Udo is out! -by Vladi Lazarova
The insult in the greatest Bulgarian sports club CSKA and in their Men's basketball club continues with new power. Today the president Georgios Sterianopoulos made the biggest mistake, which vows to collapse all 'red' dreams of the team this season. 46-years old Greek businessman from 'Interlogic' firm decided to cut, without any explanation one of the squad leaders and best players in the league: 27-years old and 189 cm tall guard Ludmil Hadjisotirov (189-G-80, agency: AMI, college: Maine). These shocking news for CSKA supporters are coming less than 24 hours after 'The Reds' lost in drama from Rilski sportist - 92:91. Hadjisotirov played a great game and finished with 19 points, but the match turned into horror for him in the last seconds. First he missed two free throws 11 seconds before the end, when the score was 91:90 for his team. In the next moment Ludmil fouled Serbian playmaker of Rilski sportist Branko Mirkovic, who stayed cool at the line and scored twice - 92:91 for the team from Samokov.
And while Sterianopoulos and his 'right hand' and sports director of CSKA Branislav Prelevic keep on hiding and refusing to meet the player eyes in eyes and let him know where he did wrong, the rumours went around Bulgarian basketball community.
The 'red' board is blaming Udo that he missed on purpose his two free throws and fouled also in purpose Mirkovic, because he didn't get his money. Hadjisotirov is one of the four main players of CSKA, who are still waiting for their salaries for February and March. In the same group are the captain of the team Georgi Davidov, one of the top Bulgarian prospects Hristo Nikolov, injured US guard Mike Henderson.
Players refused to practice last Friday and Saturday, when Prelevic paid only the half of them only to push the team to stop with the strike. Also, Prelevic forced the squad to sign a declaration, that CSKA doesn't owe anything to the players. Hadjisotirov, Davidov and Nikolov explained to former PAOK star they are not going to sign it.
The funniest episode of the day is that Sterianopoulos and Prelevic used 24-years old girl Boriana Medarova to inform Ludmil by phone they are releasing him. She is working in 'Interlogic' with Sterianopoulos, translating him from Greek to Bulgarian and it's interesting fact Medarova is also a member of Board of directors in CSKA.
To cut Hadjisotirov is a 'model' suicide for CSKA. He was the only one pure guard in the team, after Henderson torn ligaments in his right knee and will miss the rest of the season and after the club cut the backup playmaker Ivaylo Konstantinov.
Ludmil is one of the most outstanding players in the league and in the same time one of the most upbringing Bulgarian athletes, like former Boston college alumnus. He played 38 games for CSKA and has 12,0 ppg, 3,0 apg and 2,0 rpg. With this decision Sterianopoulos is 'killing' his goals and chances to fight for a place in the extended roster of National head coach Pini Gershon for Eurobasket 2009 qualifications this summer.

*****************************************************
CHILE

Libsur 2008 round 2 results -by Cristian Quiroga

March, 15th 2008

ZONE A

Provincial Osorno 98
Rodrigo Zuniga (198-F-76) 16 pt., Emilio Paris 15 ptos
Provincial Llanquihue 70
Eduardo Francke 17 pt., Alberto Toledo 16 ptos

Deportes Castro 80
Gonzalo Velasquez (185-G-81) 27 pt., Mauro Salinas 16 ptos
Asociacion Ancud 89
Nelson Mendez (200-F-77) 20 pt., Julios Holt 25 ptos

Deportes Lautaro 76
Josef Krause (193-F-87) 22 pt., Ronald Cruces 12 ptos
Deportivo Valdivia 65
Claus Prutzmann 16 pt., Francisco Bravo 14 ptos

ZONA B

Unap Victoria
Deportes Carahue
* Suspended

Las Animas 70
Roberto Gatica 15 pt., Alejandro Vera 13 ptos
Universidad de Los Lagos 100
Michael Ernst 24 pt., Haralt Funk 14 ptos

Deportivo Imperial 90
Felipe Acuna 24 pt., Nick Morales 21 ptos
D. Pto. Varas 101
Patricio Robles 21 pt., Felipe Valenzuela 17 ptos



Libsur 2008 round 3 results -by Cristian Quiroga
March, 22th 2008

ZONE A

Deportes Castro 87
Gonzalo Velasquez (185-G-81) 35 pt., Pedro Sandoval 18 pt.
Provincial Osorno 93
Rodrigo Zuniga (198-F-76) 27 pt., Eduardo Sepulveda 18 pt.

Provincial Llanquihue 59
Sebastian Raimann 11 pt., Eduardo Francke 10 pt.
Deportivo Valdivia 96
Claus Prutzmann (204-C-79) 16 pt., Christopher Altaner 14 pt.

Asociacion Ancud 58
Fernando Campos (186-G-81) 18 pt., Nelson Mendez 13 pt.
Deportes Lautaro 80
Ronald Cruces 17 pt., Diego Urrutia 11 pt.

ZONE B

Deportes Las Animas 83
Juan Kairath 21 pt., Roberto Gatica 13 ptos
Unap Victoria 98
Alex Sepulveda 42 pt., Victor Sanhueza 21 ptos

Deportes Carahue 78
Alberto Soto 16 pt., Jimmy Puschel 15 pt.
Deportes Pto. Varas 103
Humberto Carrizo 19 pt., Gonzalo Cataldo 16 pt.

Universidad de Los Lagos 86
Michael Ernst 17 pt., Leonel Mendez (184-G-75) 14 pt.
Deportivo Imperial 91
Nick Morales 21 pt., Cristian Zamorano 19 pt.

Libsur 2008 round 4 results -by Cristian Quiroga

March, 29th 2008


ZONE A

Deportivo Valdivia 81
Francisco Bravo (174-G-87) 21 pt.., Cristian Von Bischoffhausen 15 pt.
Provincial Osorno 72
Rodrigo Zuniga (198-F-76) 23 pt., Renato Vera 15 pt.

Deportes Lautaro 90
Josef Krause (193-F-87) 22 pt., Ronald Cruces 15 pt.
Deportes Castro 64
Pedro Sandoval 19 pt., Cristian Velasquez 8 pt.

Provincial Llanquihue 79
Alberto Toledo 23 pt., Eduardo Francke 12 pt.
Asociacion Ancud 76
Fernando Campos (186-G-81) 22 pt., Kurt Kruger 17 pt.

ZONE B

Deportes Pto. Varas 98
Felipe Valenzuela 22 pt., Gonzalo Cataldo 15 pt.
Unap Victoria 76
Alex Sepulveda 32 pt. Gustavo Contreras 18 pt.

Deportivo Imperial 101
Nick Morales 26 pt., Cristian Zamorano 18 pt.
Deportes Las Animas 81
Carlos Zuniga 17 pt., Alejandro Vera 15 pt.

Deportes Carahue 70
Renato Torres 23 pt., Jimmy Puschel 14 pt.
Universidad de Los Lagos
78 Leonel Mendez 28 pt., Johnny Gomez 16 pt.



Standings - LIBSUR
LIBSUR Standings
Zone A
1. Dep.Lautaro 4-0
2. Prov.Osorno 3-1
3. Dep.Valdiva 2-2
4. Dep.Castro 1-3
5. Dep.Ancud 1-3
6. Prov.Llanq. 1-3
Zone B
1. Dep.P.Varas 4-0
2. U.Los Lagos 3-1
3. Dep.Imperial 3-1
4. U.Arturo Prat 1-2
5. Dep.Carahue 0-3
6. Las Animas 0-4


*****************************************************
CUBA

Ciego de Avila win the LSB 2008. Ciego de Avila is the Queen of Cuba -by Alessandro Fontana

CIEGO DE AVILA is the Queen of Cuba!!!

'Los Avilenos' won the last game against Capitalinos and they are the 'champions of Cuba' for the fourth consecutive time.
Ciego de Avila won 77-64 against Capitalinos. It was one of the most exciting games in the LSB History. It was not a beautiful game. There was too much pressure. The teams played only with 'garra' and heart and with a bad percentage, but it was a 'real game', with a lot of intensity and hard contact.
Geoffrey Silvestre was 'The Man', 'El Gato' played a 'partidazo.' He was for the whole game unstoppable. He is the MVP of these LSB Finals 2008. Ciego de Avila wins another 'Cuban Championship' thanks to him and Michael Guerra 'the head of the team'. Ciego de Avila is an expert team, They are used to winning and even if they started 0-2 in these Finals, they could come back into the series and win deservedly. There is no team in Cuba nowadays that can contrast two strong players as Silvestre and Guerra if they are 'on fire'.

Capitalinos was really near to stopping the 'Ciego de Avila's hegemony', The team of La Habana is a young team and in the future they can really strive for a title and become Champions of Cuba, but now is a Ciego de Avila-time, as always, the Queen of Cuba.
A. Fontana



*****************************************************
DENMARK

Svendborg can reach the Final tonight -by Eurobasket News
Svendborg - BK Amager 82:72
Tonight is the 6th game of the wonderful semifinal series against Svendborg and BK Amager. It will be Amager that will host the opponent and has to win in order to tie the series.
In the 5th game Svendborg enjoyed the home win over BK Amager 82:72. From the early beginning the hosts ran to score and finished the opening quarter at 21:8. Jarrett Howell (188-G-84, agency: Worldwide Hoops, college: Texas Arlington) was the key player in the period and had 9 points by the end of it. BK Amager bounced back with 14:25 in the second quarter and reduced to 35:33 at the half.
BK Amager even took a lead in the third quarter with 49:51. Svendborg woke up later in the period and produced 15-5 to have 60:54 before the Final stanza. Matt Cooper (201-F-85, college: Le Moyne) cut the deficit to 62:60 with 7 minutes to play. Him and Peter Johansen (204-F/C-80, agency: Arik Krayn Services) kept the guests in the game with 76:72 with less than two minutes in the quarter. Jarrett Howell however had his opinion and led the game to his team advantage,. He top-scored for the winners with 28 points. Troels Halling (185-G-86) netted 15, while Ivan Hoger (225-C-82, agency: Global Sports Plaza) collected 12 points and 12 rebounds. Peter Johansen chipped in 19 points and made 15 rebounds in defeat. Matt Cooper scored 18 and Kristian Norsgaard (190-G-79) had 17.

Svendborg : Jarrett Howell 28, Troels Halling 15, Ivan Hoger 12 +12 rebs
BK Amager: Peter Johansen 19+15 reb, Matt Cooper 18, Kristian Norsgaard 17

*****************************************************
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

SAMEJI CLINCHED THE PLAYOFFS! -by Ozell Wells

In the 1st game last night, CDP defeated CUPES, 91-77. The leading scorer of the game was former Santiago MVP, Jesus Martinez (195-F-73) who scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Franklin Matos (190-G-82) added 19 points and 'refuerzo' John Jackson (201-F-74, college: Mississippi) had 18 points & 7 rebounds. For CUPES it was a very difficult outing as former National Team player & CUPES team leader, Fausto Alex Sime (192-G-79) had only one point in the game. Darnell Miller (195-G-82, college: W.Georgia) had 18 points with Noel Estevez (180-G-78) and Osvaldo Lopez (189-G/F-83) chipping in 16 and 15 points respectively.

In the 2nd game last night, Sameji won a heartbreaker of a game 86-85 over Plaza. Behind 28 points & 10 rebounds from Amaury Filion (206-C/F-81) and 16 points from Manuel Fortuna (187-G) Sameji clinched their place in the playoffs. Only 5 players scored for new Plaza coach Juan Matos. Bearing the load for Plaza was Tai Crutchfield (200-F/G-78, agency: Hart Sports Mngm, college: Philadelphia) who had 26 points & 7 rebounds, 21 points for Robert Sanders (201-F-83, agency: Strategic Sports, college: Providence) and 16 points for Jose Frias (188-G, college: Maine-Fort Kent) was not enough to pull out the victory.

THE STANDINGS:
GUG 6-2 , Cupes 4-4, Sameji 5-4, CPN 4-4, CDP 4-4 & Plaza 2-7



*****************************************************
EUROLEAGUE

Partizan Igokea blasts TAU Ceramica in Belgrade 76-55 !! -by Dragan Jankovski
Partizan Igokea continues with fantastic performance and amazing results this season. It seams no one can beat them in Serbian temple of basketball - Pionir! Black and white team buried Spanish giant TAU Ceramica 76-55 and tied the score in the Euroleague quarterfinals on 1-1. The fact that Partizan had plus 24 just 13 seconds before the end talks everything for itself. Hall Pionir once again was fulfilled until the last seat (almost 7.123 spectators!) while more than 1.000 fans had to stay out of it.

Partizan opened the game in style. Tripkovic, Pekovic and Tepic take care to make plus 13 points what was Partizan's maximum advantage in the first half. After 15 minutes coach Spahija introduced Rakocevic and Teletovic. TAU succeeded to come on acceptable 36-31 on the half time thanks to great assists by Prigioni and 3-pointer by Jasaitis. Partizan's big guys didn't let Splitter to score any point in the first half. TAU opened the third quarter with Rakocevic's jump shot for 36-33 and later came on minus 1, again after Jasaitis 3-pointer. But the last period totally belonged to reining Serbian and Adriatic league champion. Pekovic was unstoppable in the paint while Velickovic and Tripkovic made couple of very important offensive rebounds. Minute after minute Partizan kept extending the lead and after 10-0 run it was plus to 24 (last quarter 22-7). Planinic scored 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final score 76-55.

The best Euroleague center Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86, agency: Beo Basket) again was the central figure of the game leading his team to win. For 25 minutes, how much he spent on the court, Pekovic collected 19 points, 5 rebounds and 7 fouls were made on him. He and Vranes stopped very good Splitter, who scored just 3 points. PF Novica Velickovic (205-F-86) also had a great night and was MVP of the game with index value 24. He registered double-double, 17 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. Uros Tripkovic (197-G-86) netted 14 points while Milenko Tepic (198-G-87, agency: Beo Basket) had 11 points including couple of very important lay-ups with a foul. Igor Rakocevic (191-G-78) was the only one with double digits for TAU as he scored 15 points.

Black and whites finished the game with 37 rebounds and 17 assists with 8/20 from behind the arc. Partizan's head coach Dusko Vujosevic gave a chance to Borovnjak and Milosevic at the very end while Pekovic and Velickovic, who were substituted, got unbelievable ovation from the fans.

The decisive game will be played on April 10th in Vitoria.


Partizan Igokea - TAU Ceramica 76-55
(25-15,11-16,18-17,22-7)

Partizan: Pekovic 19 (5 rebs), Velickovic 17 (12 rebs, 4 as), Tripkovic 14, Tepic 11
TAU: Rakocevic 15, Teletovic 9, Jasaitis 8, Mickael 8

Final Four opens the doors only for Montepaschi so far -by Eurobasket News
Turkish Fenerbahce could not tie the series against Montepaschi Siena that became the first team to advance to the Euroleague Final Four. Italians were stronger even in Istanbul 65:86. Ksystof Lavrinovic (210-C-79) and Bootsy Thornton led the winners with 18 points. Terrell McIntyre (175-G-77, college: Clemson) netted 16 points and Romain Sato collected 13 points and 8 rebounds. Omer Asik ended up with 12 points in the losing clause. Montepaschi Siena came to Turkey with 1-0 in the series and did not desire to come back to Italy for another game. Terrell McIntyre's basket made it 2:9 in the opening tip of the game. With another 0-9 run Siena finished the quarter at 15:25. A comeback from the hosts saw the game within three points at the half. At first Damir Mrsic cut the gap to 28:33 and then Fenerbahce had closed the deficit to 34:37. It seemed that Fenerbahce would benefit from the game, however Montepaschi Siena had another opinion. Italians capped a 0-16 run for 36:51. At that time the game was over. Thomas Ress layup that ended the third quarter at 45:62. Nothing had changed in the last period as Turkish side could not stay closer. One of the favorites of Euroleague CSKA Moscow remained alive in the Quarterfinal Playoffs and will play game 3 versus Olympiacos Piraeus. In Greece Moscow team revenged with 73:83 to tie the series. Olympiacos opened the game with 27:15 proving that the first win was not occasional. CSKA however caught them up in the second quarter and had 4 points by the halftime. Ramunas Siskauskas (197-G-78) led all the winners with 20 points. Trajan Langdon (192-G-76, college: Duke) finished with 18, while Smodis scored 17. Woods top-scored for the hosts with 19 points and 7 rebounds.
Partizan Igokea tied the series against Tau Ceramica 76:55 at home in Belgrade. Partizan also ruled the backboards with a 37-28 rebounding advantage. Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86, agency: Beo Basket) finished the game with 19 points for the winners. Velickovic collected 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Uros Tripkovic added 14 points. Igor Rakocevic (191-G-78) chipped in 15 points for Tau.
Gianluca Basile (192-G-75) shined for Barcelona in a 83:74 win over Maccabi. The series is tied at 1-1 as well.

*****************************************************
FINLAND

KORISLIIGA: Bojan Sarcevic stays in Uusikaupunki -by Rauno Hurmalainen
Korihait (Uusikaupunki) has announced, that Bosnian G Bojan Sarcevic (190-G-88) will play in Finland and on Korihait roster also next season (2008-09).
Sarcevic has now played two seasons in Finland. This season he averaged 6,0 ppg - 2,7 rpg - 1,5 apg in 24:44 mpg. Team Componenta
(Karkkila) has re-signed with American F-C Clifton Jones (201-F-78, college: Oregon St.) for season 2008-09. Jones played in Karkkila only eight contests averaging 6,4 ppg and 5,9 rpg in 22:28 mpg.

KORISLIIGA: YMCA LPR made the semi-finals -by Rauno Hurmalainen

Korisliiga, Play-off-games, Game 4: YMCA Lappeenranta has made the semifinals by winning over Pyrinto (Tampere) 3-1. Tonight YMCA LPR
visited Tampere and defeated Pyrinto 71-79 (33-40). Damon Williams (199-F-73, college: Colorado St.-Pueblo) netted game high 34 pts and grabbed 18 rbs. M.C. Mazique (206-F/C-75, college: Alabama) added 17 pts and 10 rbs. NT G Petri Virtanen (183-G-80) led Lappeenranta with 22 pts. Juha Sten (191-G-83, agency: Rasmussen Services) added 16 and Pasi Riihela (199-F-75) 15 pts. YMCA LPR - Pyrinto 3-1.
Tarmo (Porvoo) tied the victories (2-2) with Torpan Pojat (Helsinki). ToPo was better during the first half, but Tarmo won the third quarter 32-18
and the contest 97-85. Takais Brown (203-F, college: SE Illinois JC) led ToPo with 24 pts. Mikael Holme (191-G-79) had again 25 pts and he led Tarmo in pts. Travis Leech (203-C-81, college: Winona St.) had 24 pts and 13 rbs. The fifth game needed.



*****************************************************
IBL

Explosive GUARDS revitalize SNOHOMISH County LINEUP -by John Gary
courtesyoursportscentral.com The Snohomish County Explosion are off to a 4-2 start,and currently sit a half game out of first place in the IBL West. The EXPLOSION WIN OVER THE jAZZ of Tacoma in their last outing,ended the first two game losing skid in the teams history . The outstanding play of newcomers Jermaine Blackburn and Jamie Booker played a key role in getting Snohomish County back on track.

*****************************************************
ICELAND

Grindavik to Final Four. -by Siggi Hjorleifsson
Grindavik beat Skallagrim tonight 93-78 and made it to final four where they will face Snaefell.
Grindavik started very strong and lead 29-15 after first period and 45-31 at halftime.. Skallagrimur did much better in second half and only loosing that period by 1 points.
Grindavik got a big game from Thorleifur Olafsson (192-G/F-84) 30 pts shooting 13/17 from the field. Pall A. Pall Axel Vilbergsson (197-F/G-78) 23 pts. Jamaal Williams (196-F-83, agency: Life Sports, college: Washington) & Helgi Jonas Gudfinnsson (185-G-76) 12 each.
For Skallagrimur as usual. Milojica Zekovic (203-F/C-75) Agency: Icebasket.25. Darrell Flake (193-F-80, agency: IceBasket, college: McKendree) 23 + 14 rebs.

Last year Champion out of the play-offs -by Siggi Hjorleifsson
KR, last years Champions are out of the play-offs in first round after they lost bad in homecourt to IR 93-74
IR has been playing very well in the serie and much better over all than KR.
Tonight IR player very good defense, rebounded much better 43-31 and team shooting was great. 44.7% from 2-p 57.2% from 3-p & 82.1% from ft.
Hreggvidur Magnusson (198-F-82) had a great game for IR 29 pts 11/16 in shooting. Tahirou Sani 19 + 11 rebs. Nate Brown (183-G-80, agency: IceBasket, college: St.Peter's) & Sveinbjorn Claessen (191-G-86) 13 each.
For KR only the Mercyhurst College players Avi Fogel 25 & Joshua Helm (198-F-82, agency: IceBasket, college: Mercyhurst) 21 + 11 boards did fine tonight.
IR will meet Keflavik in final four.

*****************************************************
JAMAICA

Bradley Beats Tulsa to Force CBI Game Three -by Leonard Whyte
Peoria, IL (4-3-2008) - The last thing Bradley University wanted was to see the University of Tulsa celebrating on its home court, so they came out and used a stifling defense to shut down Tulsa's leading scorers - Jerome Jordan and Ben Uzoh - to force a game 3 back in Tulsa tomorrow night. At stake is the inaugural College Basketball Invitational championship which is now down to a winner-take-all stage. Tulsa won game 1 on Monday night 73-68 and Bradley took game 2 last night 83-74, a game in which Jordan scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

*****************************************************
JAPAN

New Transfer List released by JBL -by John Scribe

The JBL just recently dropped their transfer list. Below players are able to negotiate and transfer freely. All OSG players have been listed, as OSG will be making a move to the BJ League next season.

Mitarai Takaaiki 1981/4/21 Rera Kamuy
Sugahara Yousuke 1983/9/25 Rera Kamuy
Yoshimune Kato 1979./4/30 Rera Kamuy
Kumagaya Wataru 1982/5/10 Rera Kamuy
Shoichi Saitoh 1974/12/16 Hitachi

Reina Itakura 1981/5/11 Toshiba

Takehiko Shimura 1982/2/14 Toshiba

Yousuke Machida 1983/4/4 Toshiba



*****************************************************
MEXICO

LICOMUBA -by Charles Elwes

After the first two games played in each semifinal, in the LICOMUBA
Mineros Parral went to Nuevo Casas Grandes to face the Faraones in wich
the first two games were in favor of Faraones, who were the best team
in the regular season and confirm there way to the championship.
Now the series goes to the Parral where Mineros will have to give there
last effort to win the third game if not , the season it's done for them.
The semifinal format is the best of 3 of 5 games.
The other side its the shocking news where two time champion
Choriceros Camargo lost one of two games at home , versus the
young squad of Liebres ITCJ, now the series comes back to
Cd Juarez today in two very important games for the Liebres this

friday night and saturday. There best player for Liebres in Camargo was

Joel Palma (-F) who made the points in the win against Camargo , and all the

young players of Liebres who showed no fear against the most experience

Camargo Team and against the home crowd.


Friday's games

Faraones Nvo Casas Grandes at Mineros Parral

Choriceros Camargo at Liebres ITCJ

Saturday games

Faraones Nvo Casas Grandes at Mineros Parral * if necessary

Choriceros Camargo at Liebres ITCJ



LNBP Defines Season Start -by Carlos Chapa
In the 3rd assembly held by the LNBP, it was defined that the season will start on July 31,
on this day the reigning champions Halcones UV Xalapa will face Union de Zacatecazs.

The regular season will end December 23, and the playoffs will be in January 2009.

In the assembly, it was also announced that 2 new teams will take part in the LNBP:
Estrellas Indebasquet DF, and Potros del ITSON. Caballeros de Culiacan and Mayas de Yucatan will take a 1 year rest.

*****************************************************
MONTENEGRO

NLB Final-Four in Montenegro ? -by Dragan Scepanovic
Montenegrin daily newspaper DAN form Podgorica announced that biggest Montenegrin basketball agency DELFI SMG in cooperation with city of Budva negotiate with Mr. Roman Lisac and NLB basketball association for organization of Final-Four of NLB League 2008.On this moment for Final-Four are signify Vrsac form Serbia and Zadar from Croatia.
In telephone contact Mr. Mijuskovic Rasa , President of DELFI SMG and Sport Director of Basketball Club Budva , confirm that he already spoke with Mr. Lisac and that he have support from Director of Basketball Club Buducnost Danilo Mitrovic for his idea but he also confirm that is very little chance for that because on this moment city of Vrsac and Zadar have better infrastructure than Budva or Tivat.

MNT1A Super-League 1 Round: Buducnost win in derby against Lovcen, first win for Mogren and Niksic -by Dragan Scepanovic
In derby game of 1Round of MNT1A Super-League Buducnost Podgorica won against BC Lovcen Cetinje 84-67 (22-12,26-17,18-25,18-13).The best player of the game was Vladimir Dasic (208-F-88) with 23 points. For Buducnost Ivan Maras had a good game and for the team of BC Lovcen Ljubo Jovanovic scored 19 points and Petar Jovanovic scored 12 points. In the other two games BC Mogren won in Budva against BC Danilovgrad 78-74 and BC Niksic won against ABS Primorje 65-53.

MNT Play-Offs Round 4: Mornar-Primorje 90-83 in derby game,Ulcinj-Jedinstvo 76-80,Kotor-Rudar 65-75 -by Dragan Scepanovic
In the derby game of 4 Round of MNT Play-off league, BC Mornar in Bar won against BC Primorje form H.Novi 90-83 (22-22,12-21,29-21,27-19). For Mornar Bar the best player was Igor Bijelic (207-F/C-88) 28 points and 12 rebounds and Mijovic with 26 points. For BC Primorje the best player was Aleksandar Raickovic (205-C-77) with 27 points. In the other two games Ulcinj lost against Jedinstvo 76-80 (23-25,15-15,21-24,17-16) for Ulcinj the best player was Popovic with 24 points and Andrija Pejovic (205-C-83) with 10 points and 8 rebounds and for Jedinstvo the best player was once again Vladimir Grdinic (188-G-78) with 21 points. In sport center Tivat BC Kotor lost against BC Rudar 65-75 (12-15,19-13,11-27,23-20) The best player of the game was Mirko Vukajlovic (198-G-80) with 23 points.

Standings - 1A
1A Standings
Superleague
1. Niksic 1-0
2. Buducnost 1-0
3. Mogren 1-0
4. Danilovgrad 0-1
5. ABS Primorje 0-1
6. Lovcen 0-1
Play-Out
1. Mornar Bar 3-1
2. Jedinstvo 3-1
3. Ulcijn 3-1
4. Rudar 2-2
5. Primorje-M. 1-3
6. Kotor 0-4


*****************************************************
NBA

Standings
NBA Standings
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Div.
1. Boston C. 60-15
2. Philadelphia 38-37
3. Toronto R. 38-37
4. New Jersey N. 31-44
5. New York K. 20-55
Central Div.
1. Detroit P. 53-21
2. Cleveland C. 42-33
3. Indiana P. 31-44
4. Chicago B. 29-45
5. Milwaukee B. 26-48
Southeast Div.
1. Orlando M. 47-28
2. Washington W. 38-37
3. Atlanta H. 35-40
4. Charlotte B. 28-47
5. Miami H. 13-62
Western Conference
Northwest Div.
1. Utah J. 50-26
2. Denver N. 46-29
3. Portland T.B. 38-37
4. Minnesota T. 19-55
5. Seattle S. 17-58
Pacific Div.
1. Los Angeles L. 51-24
2. Phoenix S. 50-25
3. Golden St. 45-30
4. Sacramento K. 34-40
5. Los Angeles C. 23-52
Southwest Div.
1. N.Orleans H. 52-22
2. San Antonio S. 52-23
3. Houston R. 49-25
4. Dallas M. 47-28
5. Memphis G. 20-55


*****************************************************
NCAA1

Buckeyes Best Minutemen for 2008 NIT Championship -by Eurobasket
Ohio State's Jamar Butler (6'1''-G-85) had 19 points and eight assists in his final college game, leading the Buckeyes to a 92-85 win over Massachusetts on Thursday night to capture the 2008 MasterCard NIT championship.
OSU dominated each of their four opponents on the way to New York, then had enough at the end to withstand every run the Minutemen could muster.
'This is continuing a rebuilding of the program,' Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. 'It feels good after what we went through last season.'
Kosta Koufos (7'0''-F/C-89) added 22 points in earning the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award. Evan Turner (6'6''-G/F) finished with 20 for the Buckeyes (24-13), who reached the preseason NIT title game but were run out of the Garden by Texas A&M.
Ricky Harris (6'2''-G-87) scored 27 for UMass (25-11), hitting three 3-pointers in the closing minutes to help the Minutemen stay close.
The last of them made it 77-75 with 3:13 left, but Othello Hunter scored moments later and after Harris missed another 3 try at the other end, Butler drained a 3-pointer from the wing to give Ohio State some breathing room.
Turner took care of things from the free throw line over the final minute and a half, helping the Buckeyes wrap up the title.
'I've seen this team go through a lot,' Matta said, moments before cutting down the net. 'I'm happy for them.'
Etienne Brower (6'7''-F-85, college: Boston U.), one of four players in the starting lineup who grew up in New York, had 17 points and 12 rebounds for UMass. Gary Forbes (6'7''-G/F-85, college: Virginia) finished with 16 points and six assists, and Dante Milligan (6'9''-F-84, college: Pittsburgh) scored 14.
Massachusetts dominated Ohio State on the boards, outrebounding the bigger Buckeyes 49-37 -- and corralling a startling 30 on the offensive end. But UMass figured to be in trouble when the frenetic pace that it so enjoys kept up in the second half: Ohio State was 15-1 this season when scoring at least 70 points.
Massachusetts put a scare into Ohio State from the moment the last notes of the national anthem were played, rushing the entire length of the court to shake hands with its stoic, startled Big Ten opponent.
The Minutemen kept racing once the ball was thrown up, forcing three turnovers in the first 2½ minutes and taking a 10-2 lead on a basket by Milligan.
The Buckeyes came right back, with Hunter scoring four of his 17 points to cap a 13-2 run and take a brief lead. But the Minutemen again edged ahead, and Forbes' 3-pointer with 3:50 left before halftime got the team's assistant coaches so animated the referees stopped to calm them down.
Fourteen busloads of people were ferried to New York from the UMass campus in Amherst, but they represented just a fraction of the partisan crowd. The school sold its allotment of tickets quickly, and appeared to have far more dressed in its slightly darker shade of red than its counterpart from Columbus.
Courtesy of NIT

*****************************************************
NPBL

Changes in NPBL rosters -by Gianni Pascucci
Former Cincinnati bearcat Michael Horton (6'1'-G-78) joined the Alexandria Avengers and should make his debut in next weekend game vs. the New York Strikeforce. The Alexandria management also announced the releasing of Carlos Jones (6'2''-G-81, college: Mountain St.), Brian Polk (6'4''-F-81, college: Temple) and Terrance Nixon (6'6''-F-79, college: George Mason). The Maryland Bayraiders announced the signing of experienced coach Ollie Matson , and veteran forward Devin Gray (6'6''-F-72, college: Clemson). Both coach Ollie and Gray are Baltimore, Md. resident. Another new name in the BayRayders roster is the one of center Ibrahima Thioune (6'9'-C-75) from Senegal.

*****************************************************
PHILIPPINES

PBA Fiesta Cup Results -by Lorenzo Gahol
#s#
#e#4


Parada


Caguioa


de Ocampo
Mar. 29 (Sat) Panabo Multi-Purpose Tourism, Cultural & Sports Center
Coca-Cola 87 Talk N Text 79
CCT: Dixon 19 pts, 15 rebs, Cato 19 pts
TNG: McGhee 24 pts, 15 rebs

Mar. 30 (Sun) Araneta Coliseum
Welcoat 96 Air21 105
AIR: Ranidel de Ocampo (195-F-81) of Air21 Express 25 pts, Santos 24 pts, Thomas 23 pts, 15 rebs.
WEL: Wainwright 24 pts, Santee 19 pts

Red Bull 89 Ginebra 83
RBB: Adam Parada (213-C-81) 28 pts, 21 rebs, Baguio 23 pts
BGK: Mark Caguioa (188-G-79) 33 pts

Apr. 2 (Wed) Araneta Coliseum
Sta. Lucia 93 Alaska 86
SLR: Wilson 23 pts, 13 rebs, 6 blks
ALA: Miller 25 pts

Purefoods 127 Magnolia 126 (2OT)
PUR: Darius Rice (208-F-82, college: Miami, FL) 56 pts, J. Yap 23 pts
MBM: Hontiveros 29 pts

Standings - PBL
PBL Standings


Standings - PBA Fiesta Conference
PBA 2008 Fiesta Cup Standings
1. Sta Lucia 1-0
2. Purefoods 1-0
3. Coca-Cola 1-0
4. Red Bull 1-0
5. Air21 1-0
6. Magnolia 0-1
7. Welcoat D. 0-1
8. Talk N Text 0-1
9. Ginebra 0-1
10. Alaska 0-1


*****************************************************
POLAND

Standings - DBE
DBE Standings
1. Turow 17-7
2. Prokom 17-7
3. Slask 14-10
4. Anwil 14-10
5. Atlas Stal 13-11
6. Polpak 13-11
7. AZS Koszalin 12-12
8. Basket 11-13
9. Kotwica 10-14
10. Energa Czarni 9-15
11. Polonia 9-15
12. Gornik W. 9-15
13. Polpharma 8-16


*****************************************************
PORTUGAL

Taca de Portugal day 1 (preview) -by Luis Rocha
Today the first two games will be played. Vitoria takes Fisica, in a game where the first team is clearly favourite. Both teams play in Proliga and untill now Vitoria has been much more stronger than Fisica. The special involvement of a final eight , can reduce diferences, but if all goes normally Vitoria should be able to go forward to the next round. Ovarense and CAB will face eachother on the second game of the evening. Another game where one team is clearly favourite, Ovarense should go ahead. Cab is not as strong as can be because this week lost one more of their only 3 foreign players, there's one solution less, and Ovarense is finally beginning to understand what their new coach want of the team. Certainly a good night for players like Tommie Eddie (201-F/C-82, college: Mississippi) (Vitoria), Marcel Momplaisir (205-C-81, college: Rhode Island) (Fisica), Greg Stempin (203-F-79, agency: Duran International, college: Toledo) (Ovarense) and Jose Costa (187-G-73) (CAB) rise and bring out their best.

Monty Scott has left CAB Madeira due to personal reasons -by Bruno Baltazar

According to sources Monty Scott (198-F-84, agency: Sports Plus International, college: Dayton) has left CAB Madeira due to slow/late payments from the team to him,a loss the team will have for the upcoming playoffs where CAB is.

UPDATE-

After we got close sources with the player(agent)that told us the reason for Monty Scott left CAB was those late payments ,well we got a confirmation from the team that he left due to personal reasons and not because late payments as we reported before,for the fact we apolosize but the sources we had we believed to be real.


Monty Scott played 19 games ,averaging 14.1PPG , 4.5RPG , 1.2APG , the 23 years old player that came from Dayton college,23 years old of age.
CAB already played this week without Monty winning against Vagos , CAB so far has a record of 9-11 being in the 4th place before the last round .



Taca de Portugal day 1 (results) -by Luis Rocha
All as expected. Vitoria had a tough job beating Fisica, but in the end they were stronger. Ovarense won a game that was very easy. Vitoria enter the game on a 'let it flow...' kind of way, Fisica on the other hand begun very concentrated and doing their best to enlarge distances. After the first quarter were Fisica trailed 13 points ahead, Vitoria step up the pace and get a 11 points margin....the half arrives with 4 points to Vitoria. After the break Vitoria once again let things run, this could cost them the victory but in the last 2 minutes, Vitoria (who was down by 7) destroyed Fisca and grabbed a win by 77-75. The answer of the game was in the powerof the 2 inside players from Vitoria, Pedro Silva (198-F-79) and Tommie Eddie (201-F/C-82, college: Mississippi), are very large and strong and the inside players from Fisica are tall but skinny, they never managed to box-out properly the two big man from Vitoria. The best player of the game was Tommie Eddie (Vitoria), he scored 18 points, get 16 rebounds and made 3 blocks.
The second game was completely dominated by Ovarense. CAB played with only 1 foreign player, they had no inside power to prevent the big man from Ovarense to do what they want. Ovarense took profit to give minutes to all their players and rest others in order to prepare the semi finals. They won fair and square, but they have to remenber that today CAB wasn't playing with all their men. Final result 80-65. Best player of the game was Graham Brown (205-C-84, college: Michigan) (Ovarense), he scored 23 points get 9 boards and gave 2 blocks.

*****************************************************
PUERTO RICO

Figueroa 24+23, Pellot Rosa "the fighter" and BSN Boxscores -by Alessandro Fontana
Arecibo won an important game against Humacao, MVP of the game 'Buster' Angel Figueroa, 'Our Boricua' scored 24 points and he caught 23 rebounds!!!. Arecibo was too strong for Humacao, with Figueroa also Rodney White played a 'partidazo' with 25 points.
Cariduros de Fajardo defeated Mayaguez, MVP of the game was Kevin Hamilton with 20 points. Also one should mention the game of Jesse Pellot-Rosa with 19 points and his incredible intensity in defense. Pellot Rosa is a great fighter and if he has his head in the game, it is very difficult to defeat the Cariduros.
BSN BOXSCORES
HUMACAO-ARECIBO= 80-95
H=Guzman 19, K. Sanchez 18, Nieves 16, R. Sanchez 13, Ayala 7, Jackson 5, J. Nieves 2, Orozco 0, Vazquez 0
A= White 27, Figueroa 24 (23 rebs), Rosario 14, Cortes 8, Payano 7, Rivera 7, Rodriguez 6, Hatton 2, R. Rivera 0, Rosa 0, Butler 0
MAYAGUEZ-FAJARDO= 95-108
M= Jimenez 21, White 20, Caballero 15, Jourdon 11, Zayas 11, Lopez 10, Venzen 7, Caraballo 0, Erazo 0
F= Hamilton 20, Pellot Rosa 19, Jackson 19 (12 rebs), Agbai 18, Mojica 17, Gonzalez 5, Morales 5, Salgado 5, Collazo 0, Quintero 0, Rivera 0
A. Fontana

Standings - BSN
BSN Standings
Island
1. Arecibo 12-6
2. Ponce 9-7
3. Caguas 7-8
4. San German 6-9
5. Guayama 4-11
6. Mayaguez 4-12
Metro
1. Santurce 10-5
2. Carolina 10-5
3. Guaynabo 9-7
4. Fajardo 9-7
5. Humacao 7-8
6. Bayamon 7-9


*****************************************************
RUSSIA

Triumph left for Croatia on team camp -by Max Brodsky

Triumph Lyubertsy left for Croatia for team camp. They will be preparing for Russian play-offs till April 12th. Head Coach Stanislav Eremin says that they will have friendly games with top Ukrainian teams Azovmash Mariupol and BC Kyiv in Croatia. Triumph picked Dmitriy Zagnoyko (193-G-85) from their junior team who will probably replace injured Kristaps Valters (188-G-81). They will finish Regular Season playing against Enisey. Stanislav Eremin says that his team needs some fresh air and rest. Also to keep in good shape for play-offs.



Stats Leaders - Superleague A
Superleague A Stats Leaders
Points Per Game
1 L. Nailon 22.0
2 Z. Hamilton 18.6
3 F. Warrick 17.2
4 H. Domercant 16.4
5 A. Scales 15.2
6 A. Goldwire 15.1
7 A. Wisniewski 15.0
8 J.R. Bremer 14.6
9 B. Wright 14.6
10 J. Gardner 14.5
Rebounds Per Game
1. L. Nailon 8.8
2. J. Blair 8.7
3. Z. Hamilton 8.3
4. R. Araujo 7.8
5. B. Wright 7.5
6. M. Lampe 7.1
7. K. Gibbs 7.0
8. M. Krivosheev 6.8
9. D. Andersen 6.6
10. T. Kirksay 6.5
Assists Per Game
1 J.R. Bremer 5.6
2 T. Papaloukas 5.4
3 L. Cooper 5.3
4 A. Wisniewski 4.5
5 J.R. Holden 4.3
6 A. Ponkrashov 4.2
7 O. Askrabic 3.9
8 D. Ewing 3.8
9 T. Kirksay 3.6
10 M. Chatman 3.6
Steals Per Game
1 T. Kirksay 2.3
2 M. Chatman 2.1
3 L. Nailon 2.1
4 S. Bykov 1.9
5 J.R Bremer 1.7
6 E. Kurilov 1.6
7 J. McCullough 1.6
8 P. Zakamov 1.6
9 D. Savanovic 1.5
10 A. Scales 1.5
Blocks Per Game
1 M. Goree 1.2
2 A. Fotsis 1.1
3 A. Banitchev 1.1
4 D. Sokolov 1.1
5 S. Monia 1.0
6 S. Szewczyk 0.8
7 K. Gibbs 0.8
8 D. Lavrinovic 0.8
9 K. McCarty 0.8
10 O. Askrabic 0.7
2FGP
1 N. Zisis 68.1%
2 R. Javtokas 66.1%
3 V. Veremeenko 64.9%
4 A. Savrasenko 64.7%
5 R. Siskauskas 64.6%
6 T. Papaloukas 62.5%
7 S. Szewczyk 62.2%
8 J. Blair 62.1%
9 M. Chatman 61.9%
10 M. Lampe 61.3%
3FGP
1 A. Tsypatchev 54.5%
2 S. Toporov 53.6%
3 T. Langdon 52.7%
4 V. Fridzon 52.5%
5 M. Tusek 51.3%
6 T. Kirksay 50.0%
7 T. Rannikko 50.0%
8 V. Ginevicius 49.2%
9 J. McCullough 47.7%
10 S. Demechkine 47.3%
Free Throws
1 S. Chikalkin 95.0%
2 N. Zisis 93.6%
3 A. Kuzyakin 90.7%
4 A. Goldwire 88.9%
5 H. Domercant 88.9%
6 T. Rannikko 87.5%
7 M. Perry 86.7%
8 K. McCarty 86.0%
9 V. Fridzon 84.4%
10 L. Nailon 84.4%
11 A. Fotsis 84.1%


May Messina come back in Moscow through Italy... -by Max Brodsky
CSKA Moscow remained alive in the Quarterfinal Playoffs and forced a deciding Game 3 in its series by beating Olympiacos Piraeus 73-83 on Thursday night at the Peace and Friendship Arena in Athens, Greece. The final game of the best-of-three series will take place next week in Moscow. The Reds were the only road team to win Game 1 of the playoffs this season when Lynn Greer (186-G-79, college: Temple)'s buzzer-beating jumper knocked off the Russian champs on Tuesday, but CSKA avenged that defeat thanks to a stellar shooting night from Ramunas Siskauskas (197-G-78), Trajan Langdon (192-G-76, college: Duke) and Matjaz Smodis (205-F-79). The three combined to shoot 12 for 15 from downtown to lead CSKA. The Reds seemed poised to march to the Final Four when they built a double-digit lead in the opening period. However soon Theodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77) came off the bench and showed why he's the reigning Euroleague Basketball MVP with a series of assists that gave his team the momentum as CSKA gained a 38-42 halftime lead. Ramunas Siskauskas erupted in the third quarter and the CSKA lead swelled to as high as 16. The home team began to look tired and CSKA controlled the game the rest of the way. Some fourth-quarter heroics from Qyntel Woods (204-F/G-81, college: N.Mississippi JC) and Giorgos Printezis (206-F-85, agency: FCM) helped trim the gap to 8, but Papaloukas made the needed free throws to ice the win. Ramunas Siskauskas led all scorers with 20 points, Langdon finished with 18, Smodis 17 and Papaloukas recorded 7 points and 7 assists. Woods paced the Reds with 19 points and 7 rebounds and Printezis added 17 points and 7 boards.

Both teams put the ball in the paint for their first baskets coming from Greer and Iakovos Tsakalidis (218-C-79) for Olympiacos and David David Andersen (212-C-80) for CSKA at 4-2. A Iakovos Tsakalidis hook followed by Woods free throws gave the hosts an 8-3 lead. David Andersen scored from the corner at the shot-clock buzzer, but it was obvious that both teams were paying the most attention to their defense. Greer dished the ball for a nice basket-plus-foul by Printezis as Olympiacos built an 11-5 difference. Theo Papaloukas came off the bench to improve CSKA's perimeter passing and he dished a couple of assists to Holden and Smodis as CSKA trimmed it to 11-10. However, the hosts reacted with three consecutive three-pointers from Rod Roderick Blakney (181-G-76, college: S.Carolina St.), Printezis and Woods. Greer found a pair from the line to make it 22-13 before Holden's jumper answered back for CSKA at 22-15. Olympiacos was ready to close the first period in fashion, though; Ioannis Bouroussis connected for a lay-up-plus-free-throw and blocked Nikos Zisis (195-G-83)'s attempt on the other end and when Loukas Mavrokefalidis (207-C-84) nailed a six-meter jumper, the hosts were ahead 27-15.

Marcus Goree (201-F-77, college: W.Virginia) found easy points inside and Langdon copied him to start CSKA's comeback. Ramunas Siskauskas was open from behind the arc to get within 5. Woods stepped up, but the guests were now dictating the tempo as Langdon and Sikauskas trimmed it to 29-27. Papaloukas's presence on the court had changed the momentum; Papaloukas was about to reach 7 assists after two quarters. Milos Teodosic fired in a three-pointer to curb CSKA's enthusiasm, but soon David Andersen cut it again to 32-29. CSKA was now playing some incredible defense forcing Olympiacos to shoot under pressure. Ramunas Siskauskas rose for a big triple over the hands of Bouroussis, Papaloukas ran the open floor for a layup and when Smodis scored on the offensive boards, CSKA was led 32-36. Woods showed some signs of reaction for Olympiacos, but Ramunas Siskauskas raised it again to 34-40. Woods bore again offensive responsibility to allow the hosts come as close a 38-42 by halftime.

CSKA continued to dominate on court in the beginning of the third quarter as the guests quickly reeled off 7 points to take a double-digit lead behind the hot hand of Ramunas Siskauskas. Iakovos Tsakalidis scored for the Reds, but Ramunas Siskauskas was in the zone and fired in back-to-back triples to make it 40-55 and silence the crowd. Woods and Greer tried to create their own shots for Olympiacos, but CSKA was now working as a perfect machine on the offensive end as Langdon popped in another three-pointer to make it 44-60. Roderick Blakney (181-G-76, college: S.Carolina St.) answered with two layups to bring some hope for Olympiacos at 49-60, but Holden connected at the shot-clock-buzzer. Roderick Blakney again scored for the hosts to make it 51-62, but there was much road for Olympiacos to walk as CSKA was controlling the tempo. Smodis nailed his third triple so far to raise it to 51-66. Printezis tipped the ball in and later on scored on another offensive board to get twithin 11, but Langdon was there with the third quarter's final word after gunning a really difficult three-pointer for 56-70.

Printezis continued to be the go-to-guy for Olympiacos, having scored the hosts' last 9 points as he began the last period with 7 points of his own. But, Ramunas Siskauskas was there for CSKA and he made it 61-72. Smodis then nailed another one from behind the arc. Bouroussis made it 63-75 and after three scoreless minutes Woods impressively finished an alley-oop to allow Olympiacos to believe, but Goree nailed an incredible jumper at the shot-clock buzzer to dampen the hosts' hopes for a possible comeback. Panagotis Vasilopoulos (202-F-84) and Woods found triples from the corner to cut it to 71-79, but Papaloukas was accurate from the line as CSKA sealed the 73-83 win to stay alive and bring the series to Moscow again.

Cliff Hammonds in TOP European League? -by Max Brodsky
Some Russian online sources says that Clemson Tigers senior PG Cliff Hammonds (191-G-85) might start his rookie year in Russian Superleague. Hammonds became the sixth player in Clemson history to average in double figures four consecutive years. At the 2006-07 team banquet, brought home six awards, including Most Valuable Player and Defensive MVP. We was also named Mr. Effort for third straight season and was recipient of the Strength Award for the second time in his career. Cliff Hammonds has been outstanding in postseason play in his three years, averaging 14.4 points per game in eight career NIT contests. He is one of the few architecture majors among student-athletes at Clemson, he has over a 3.0 cumulative GPA.

This season Hammonds averaged 11.4ppg, 4.1 rpb, 3.9apg, 1.9 stl. His season high point was against N.Carolina 31 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Hopefully we will know more information about Hammonds' transfer in near future...

*****************************************************
SERBIA

Partizan Igokea blasts TAU Ceramica in Belgrade 76-55 !! -by Dragan Jankovski
Partizan Igokea continues with fantastic performance and amazing results this season. It seams no one can beat them in Serbian temple of basketball - Pionir! Black and white team buried Spanish giant TAU Ceramica 76-55 and tied the score in the Euroleague quarterfinals on 1-1. The fact that Partizan had plus 24 just 13 seconds before the end talks everything for itself. Hall Pionir once again was fulfilled until the last seat (almost 7.123 spectators!) while more than 1.000 fans had to stay out of it.

Partizan opened the game in style. Tripkovic, Pekovic and Tepic take care to make plus 13 points what was Partizan's maximum advantage in the first half. After 15 minutes coach Spahija introduced Rakocevic and Teletovic. TAU succeeded to come on acceptable 36-31 on the half time thanks to great assists by Prigioni and 3-pointer by Jasaitis. Partizan's big guys didn't let Splitter to score any point in the first half. TAU opened the third quarter with Rakocevic's jump shot for 36-33 and later came on minus 1, again after Jasaitis 3-pointer. But the last period totally belonged to reining Serbian and Adriatic league champion. Pekovic was unstoppable in the paint while Velickovic and Tripkovic made couple of very important offensive rebounds. Minute after minute Partizan kept extending the lead and after 10-0 run it was plus to 24 (last quarter 22-7). Planinic scored 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final score 76-55.

The best Euroleague center Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86, agency: Beo Basket) again was the central figure of the game leading his team to win. For 25 minutes, how much he spent on the court, Pekovic collected 19 points, 5 rebounds and 7 fouls were made on him. He and Vranes stopped very good Splitter, who scored just 3 points. PF Novica Velickovic (205-F-86) also had a great night and was MVP of the game with index value 24. He registered double-double, 17 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. Uros Tripkovic (197-G-86) netted 14 points while Milenko Tepic (198-G-87, agency: Beo Basket) had 11 points including couple of very important lay-ups with a foul. Igor Rakocevic (191-G-78) was the only one with double digits for TAU as he scored 15 points.

Black and whites finished the game with 37 rebounds and 17 assists with 8/20 from behind the arc. Partizan's head coach Dusko Vujosevic gave a chance to Borovnjak and Milosevic at the very end while Pekovic and Velickovic, who were substituted, got unbelievable ovation from the fans.

The decisive game will be played on April 10th in Vitoria.


Partizan Igokea - TAU Ceramica 76-55
(25-15,11-16,18-17,22-7)

Partizan: Pekovic 19 (5 rebs), Velickovic 17 (12 rebs, 4 as), Tripkovic 14, Tepic 11
TAU: Rakocevic 15, Teletovic 9, Jasaitis 8, Mickael 8

The best five players of Serbian A league -by Dragan Jankovski
Serbian Basketball federation announced who are the best five players of the Serbian A league according to accumulated stats. Below is the list with 'MVP A Team' and 'MVP B Team' of Serbian A league 2007/2008.


MVP best five - A team

Point guard Vukasin Aleksic (185-G-85, agency: Beo Basket) of Swisslions Takovo

Guard Predrag Miletic (193-G-84) of Napredak Rubin

Forward Dragan Markovic (202-F-74, agency: Beo Basket) of Napredak Rubin

Power forward Nikola Ilic (207-C/F-85) of Borac

Center Radomir Marojevic (207-C-81) of Zdravlje Actavis


MVP best five - B team

Point guard Marko Popovic (193-G-84) of Sloga

Guard Marko Sutalo (194-G-83) of Novi Sad

Forward Uros Lucic (207-C-83) of Zdravlje

Power forward Uros Mirkovic (205-F/C-82) of Masinac

Center Novak Popovic (207-C-81) of Radnicki Invest Inzenjering

Lower leagues - Results of round 23 -by Dragan Jankovski
B league

Vrbas - Vujic Metalac 110:104
(33:27, 29:23, 24:33, 24:21)

Crnokosa - Proleter Naftagas 90:99
(27:17, 18:30, 24:34, 21:18)

Zeleznicar - FMP 2 66:103
(15:29, 14:25, 18:24, 19:25)

Vojvodina Zlatiborac - Sloboda 108:73
(30:10, 31:14, 30:16, 17:33)

Beovuk 72 - Tamis Petrohemija 94:97
(17:22, 22:18, 23:28, 21:15) (11:14)

Kotez Bambi - Beograd 73:68
(17:12, 13:17, 18:24, 25:15)

Prva Petoletka - Kikinda 82:76
(20:25, 20:24, 20:10, 22:17)



Third league, group North

Sport Key - Topola 82:65
(25:23, 29:10, 16:14, 12:18)

Partizan 2 - Grocka 82:68
(11:20, 23:13, 28:20, 20:15)

Superfund BP - Radnicki (Bg) 89:76
(25:19, 18:20, 22:17, 24:20)

FKL Temerin - Zemun Lasta 93:92
(20:22, 27:24, 23:29, 23:17)

Radnicki (Ob) - Polet Keramika 99:58
(27:13, 36:08, 20:16, 16:21)

Spartak - Viva Basket 88:91
(27:24, 16:24, 18:21, 27:22)

Mladost (Ze) - Srem 107:77
(28:25, 21:18, 28:16, 30:18)



Third league, group South

Goc - Novi Pazar 95:88
(25:20, 23:22, 20:16, 27:30)

Nic - Jablanica 92:67
(15:29, 23:12, 25:16, 29:10)

Pirot - Bor RTB 87:67
(14:19, 16:18, 26:13, 31:17)

Mladost (Za) - Maraton Atlantik 73:85
(20:24, 15:24, 18:20, 20:17)

Svilajnac Kompo - Krusevac 74:62
(15:14, 19:22, 26:16, 14:10)

Zlatibor - Mladost (Ca) 101:105
(17:23, 23:28, 29:17, 32:37)

Prokuplje - Napredak Maksi-Ko 75:63
(18:17, 22:17, 16:09, 19:20)

Mijajlovic reinforces Vojvodina Srbijagas -by Nenad Ilijev
Vojvodina Srbijagas management signed one more inside player in attempt to completely cover departure of Vladimir Golubovic (212-C-86). After Uros Mirkovic (205-F/C-82), the Tulips have signed Sasa Mijajlovic (211-C-80, college: Hutchinson JC) who played in Omonia Nicosia recently. Team from Novi Sad have a goal to reach 5th place in Serbian Superleague which enables playing in NLB League next season. Vojvodina Srbijagas also added Serbian U16 NT member Nemanja Besovic (211-C-92) to senior team.

Borac gets help from FMP Zeleznik -by Nenad Ilijev
Borac Cacak, farm team of FMP Zeleznik, got a great addition to its roster for Superleague clashes. Cacak-born Djordje Micic (196-G-83) will help his former team in an effort to make the fifth spot and play in NLB League next season. He played 13 games in NLB League this season averaging 4.0ppg and 1.1rpg. He was a member of Serbian University NT that took part at The World University Championships in Bangkok last summer.
Borac also got one more player for Superleague - talented guard Radenko Pilcevic (188-G-86).

New departures from Ergonom -by Dragan Jankovski
Troubles for BC Ergonom from Nis are not finished. After the departure of Vladimir Radmanovac, Sasa Avalic, Igor Ratkovic, Rade Dzambic and Fahrudin Djulovic, Ergonom have lost two more players. Stefan Majstorovic and Dejan Mikic (201-F-86) also decided to leave the club due to the extremely bad financial situation. The latest news is that head coach Predrag Jacimovic also has no intention to stay in the club any longer.

Ergonom finished Serbian A league on the bottom with only 2 wins in 22 rounds.

*****************************************************
SLOVENIA

Short Interview With Mitar Trivunovic On Scoring 42 Points -by Jan Flac

Mitar Trivunovic, player of Kraski zidar Jadran, achieved 42 points on the Wednesday's game of UPC Telemach League For The Existence against Alpos from Sentjur. This is the second highest achievement in The UPC Telemach League this season and is only one point behind Gil Goodrich's (178-G-82, Zagorje) record of scoring 43 points against Polzela on March 15th. We asked Trivunovic what was going on in his head during the game, as we were curious how someone can achieve something like this.

Trivunovic answers: 'Before coming to Kraski zidar Jadran, I had a lot of problems with my heart and was not able to play basketball for three months. It was a big challenge for me to come back and it still is, as I believe I can do even much more than that, when I bring my game to the level, on which it once already was. Now, I am determined to help Kraski zidar Jadran to achieve the goals that we set. This is the highest priority and all the players in the team work for that. For this game, my friend helped me to get extremely motivated and it seems like the players were able to recognize I have this special energy inside of me today. I appreciate them more than you can imagine. They are so smart, they know I have a lot of experiences and skills and they let me play the role that I like the most. I would like to thank them for that from the depth of my hearth! I really enjoyed this game and I hope this step on our way will bring us to our final destination.'



Ljubljana will host Adriatic League Final4! -by Matej Bergant
The 2008 Final Four Tournament of the NLB League will be organized in Ljubljana, Slovenia, between April 25th and 27th as president of Adriatic League confirmed. The participants in NLB League Final4 are: Union Olimpija Ljubljana, BC Partizan Igokea Beograd, KK Zadar and Hemofarm Vrsac. That is the end of the candidacy for the organization which had a lot of candidates. After Zadar, Banjaluka and Vrsac entered the game few weeks ago, two other cities joined them a while ago - Podgorica and Ljubljana.

*****************************************************
TAIWAN

Chen Chih-chung: Feb.-March Player of the Month -by Chris Wang
Chen Chih-chung edged teammate Chen Hsin-an for the Player of February/March by leading Yulon Dinos to a 9-3 record, averaging 19.2 points during the 12-game stretch.

Chen received 30 points, three points higher than Chen Hsin-an and four more than dmedia import Jon Sanders, in the voting. PY center/forward Chien Chia-hung had 16 points.

2007-08 SBL Players of the Month:
Feb./March: Chen Chih-chung (Yulon)
January: J. Sanders (dmedia)
December: Chen Hsin-an (Yulon)

*****************************************************
TURKEY

Fenerbahce farewells to Euroleague -by Eurobasket News
Fenerbahce-Montepaschi Siena 65:86

Turkish Fenerbahce could not tie the series against Montepaschi Siena that became the first team to advance to the Euroleague Final Four. Italians were stronger even in Istanbul 65:86. Ksystof Lavrinovic (210-C-79) and Bootsy Thornton (194-G-77, college: St.John's) led the winners with 18 points. Terrell McIntyre (175-G-77, college: Clemson) netted 16 points and Romain Sato (194-G-81, college: Xavier) collected 13 points and 8 rebounds. Omer Asik (211-C-86) ended up with 12 points in the losing clause.
Montepaschi Siena came to Turkey with 1-0 in the series and did not desire to come back to Italy for another game. Terrell McIntyre's basket made it 2:9 in the opening tip of the game. With another 0-9 run Siena finished the quarter at 15:25. A comeback from the hosts saw the game within three points at the half. At first Damir Mrsic cut the gap to 28:33 and then Fenerbahce had closed the deficit to 34:37.
It seemed that Fenerbahce would benefit from the game, however Montepaschi Siena had another opinion. Italians capped a 0-16 run for 36:51. At that time the game was over. Thomas Ress layup that ended the third quarter at 45:62. Nothing had changed in the last period as Turkish side could not stay closer.

Fenerbahce:Omer Asik 12 points, Will Solomon (187-G-78, college: Clemson) 11
Montepaschi Siena:Ksystof Lavrinovic 18 points, Bootsy Thornton 18, Terrell McIntyre 16 points, Romain Sato 13 points and 8 rebounds.

*****************************************************
UBL

At last! UBL season tips off: San Marcos, San Antonio to Play Historic First Game -by Mac Claire
After more than two years of planning, building, holding conference calls and meetings, the United Basketball League will tip off its first season Friday.
The San Marcos Knights and the San Antonio Soul will be the only league game on the historic opening night, while other teams will get started by Sunday Evening.

Here is an update on the league overall:

San Antonio: Ms. Bobbie Lee is an owner who has provided strong leadership for her Soul. A Katrina transplant, Ms. Lee has said that ownership of the Soul has helped her in picking up the pieces after such a horrible experience. She is passionate about her team and the people in the organization.

Texas: Formerly known as the Waco Wranglers when they played in the ABA, this Dallas team will quench the thirst of basketball fans in the area once the Mavericks have played their final game. Owner, GM, and Coach Ozzie Denson has his team more prepared for the season than perhaps any other team. The Wranglers are at an advantage though, having played together dating back to their ABA days. Expect them to make lots of noise.

Central Texas: They call themselves CenTex. The Stars who are based out of Temple got in late when the league and a particular team agreed that more time was needed for the team to get things together. Undisputed leader of this pack is Karron Taylor, who as a player and coach was primarily responsible for the Stars getting into the league at the 11th hour. 'The Stars did everything they were told they needed to do,' UBL CEO Mac Claire said. 'They have a prety good team too.' The Stars lost a game recently to the Soul 98-83, 'but they will be a tough team this season because they, like the Wranglers have been together for a while,' Claire noted after watching the game.

San Marcos: The Knights will be led by former ABA guard Damon Taylor (6'8''-F-80, college: California (PA)) who had an impressive 26 point performance reently. There is enough offense on this club but the question is on the defenive end. 6'8' Sanora Baptiste is going to be a key cog defensively. Like any big man, get him involved in the offense early and it will pay off later in the game. This team is guard-strong, so it will be interesting to see how this team grows as the season progresses.

Oklahoma City: This club has probably been under even the league's radar, but it would be a big surprise if they didn't do well this season.

Dallas: Playing out of Mesquite, TX, the Outlaws will be probably be one of the top two teams in its division. Owner Tommy Baker has quietly put together a good team and could be the team to beat.

Arkansas: Now this is without question one of the top three organizations in the entire league from ownership on down to the last player. Pastor Eugene Udell, Coach Dedrick Harris , and the others have done everything right seemingly, and this team is not only admired by the other owners, they are also envied, but in a good way. 'Hey, I have learned alot from Pastor Eudell,' said Claire when discussing the Warriors. 'They have done everything in good taste, from a ribbon cutting ceremony to community involvement. They are a classy group and we can all learn from them.'

North Missouri: The jury is still out on this team. The season has to start first before a fair assessment can be made. Seemingly the talent is there from a basketball standpoint, but it's too soon to make any bold statements about the Hawks.

UBL Leadership: League Founder and Commissioner Mac Claire strongly says that the league will do well not so much because of him, but perhaps in spite of him. 'I had the idea of the league but without guys like Ozzie Denson , Pastor Eudell, and Roland Combs, I don't think we would have gotten to this point. We may have had to wait a while before launching.' It seems that Claire's strongest quality is his lack of an ego and his willingness to delegate and listen to the people around him who are always willing to help out with a suggestion. At least one UBL official has suggested that he has not given himself enough credit for the league's development because he looks at what Denson has done for the league.

But there is no chest thumping in this league.

Here's hoping that the UBL has a successful opener Friday night and many successful nights to follow.

*****************************************************
UKRAINE

Drozdov - the regular Superleague MVP / Vilkhovetskyi instead of Panchenko -by Alexander Muzyka
- Oleksandr Panchenko (184-G-84) asked AllStarDay headquarters to join his Dnipro partner Maksym Vilkhovetskyi (187-G-88) as a participant in a dribbling contest instead of him. FBU agreed to make this substitute.

- Artur Drozdov (198-G-80) became the Superleague regular championship MVP by 27 journalists' voting. The results were the following:

Player / Total / 1st / 2nd / 3rd
1 Artur Drozdov (BC Kyiv) / 73 / 23 / 2 / 0
2 Rodney Buford (Azovmash) / 14 / 1 / 5 / 1
2 Goran Cakic (Khimik) / 14 / 1 / 5 / 1
4 Volodymyr Gurtovoy (Lvivska Politekhnika) / 13 / 0 / 5 / 3
5 Rostyslav Krivych (Sumykhimprom) / 12 / 0 / 3 / 6
6 Eugene Jeter (BC Kyiv) / 8 / 1 / 2 / 1
7 Robert Jr. Archibald (Azovmash) / 5 / 0 / 2 / 1
7 Yahor Mescharakau (Azovmash) / 5 / 0 / 1 / 3
9 Serhi Gladyr (MBC Mykolaiv) / 3 / 0 / 1 / 1
9 Maksym Kornienko (Dnipro) / 3 / 0 / 0 / 3
9 Olumuyiwa Famutimi (Khimik) / 3 / 1 / 0 / 0
9 Martynas Andriukaitis (Cherkasy Monkeys) / 3 / 0 / 1 / 1
13 Yaroslav Zubrytskyi (Lvivska Politekhnika) / 2 / 0 / 0 / 2
14 Anatoli Dubnyuk (BC-93 Pulsar) / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1
14 Oleg Kojenets (Sumykhimprom) / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1
14 Serhi Lischuk (Azovmash) / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1
14 Marko Maravic (BC Kyiv) / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1
14 Manuchar Markoishvili (BC Kyiv) / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1
One point for the 3rd place, two points for the 2nd place and three points for the 1st place.

Standings - Higher League
Higher Standings
1-10 places
1 BC Donetsk 17-3
2 DniproAzot 13-7
3 KDPU 12-8
4 MSDUShOR 12-8
5 Domograd 10-10
6 Hoverla 10-10
7 Kremin 8-12
8 KTU 7-13
9 Gryfony 6-14
10 Koksokhim-Stal 5-15
11-18 places
1 BC Sarny 13-3
2 DUEP 12-4
3 Polit.Kharkiv 12-4
4 Adzhalyk 12-4
5 Fero-ZNTU 8-8
6 KMPU 3-13
7 BC Ternopil 2-14
8 Orlan 2-14


*****************************************************
VENEZUELA

Diego Guevara sinks Caguas in Puerto Rico -by Francisco Vega
Venezuelan point guard Diego Guevara (184-G-77) was one of the main weapons in which Vaqueros de Bayamon (7-9) relied to get a victory, 93-82, against Criollos de Caguas (7-8), after he netted 23 points, including five three-point shots, and he gave 6 assists, in a new match night of Baloncesto Superior Nacional of Puerto Rico, in which he plays as a community imported player.

Guevara was a starter and played 36 minutes. He scored 4 of 7 two-point shots, 5 of 5 three-pointers and did not go to the free-throw line. He also added 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 fouls and 4 turnovers during his performance.

Christopher Vega (182-G-84) helped him with 24 points, Lee Benson (208-F/C-73) added 18 points and 17 rebounds and Desmond Ferguson (201-G/F-77) finished up with 12 for Bayamon. Caguas best scorers where Shawn Redhage (202-F-81) with 19 points and 10 boards and Peter John Ramos (222-C-85) with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Meanwhile, another Venezuelan, guard Rafael Perez (185-G-82), scored 10 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in a defeat of his team, Brujos de Guayama, against Gigantes de Carolina, in a game that ended 74-69.

Standings - LPB
LPB Standings
1. Trotamundos 12-3
2. Gatos 11-4
3. Guaiqueries 8-5
4. Cocodrilos 7-4
5. Marinos 6-8
6. Gaiteros 6-8
7. Guaros 6-9
8. Dep.Tachira 4-7
9. Gigantes 4-9
10. Panteras 4-11


Nelson Solorzano: "Our strength is our will to succeed" -by Francisco Vega
Caracas, Venezuela.- (LPB Press Department) Head coach Nelson Solorzano , nicknamed 'Kako', took the challenge of becoming the first coach in the history of one of the newest expansion franchises in Venezuela's Liga Profesional de Baloncesto, Gigantes de Guayana. Solorzano shared his thoughts on the expansion process and other subjects with the LPB's press department.

LPB: Being one of the two coaches that work for the new teams in LPB. What do you think about the expansion in the country's main basketball league?
NS: 'It's one of the best news that the Venezuelan basketball fans have received in recent years. With the expansion, there's an opportunity for new cities that hadn't had the chance of owning a franchise in the league and that are also lovers of good basketball. It's also a chance for younger players and new prospects to play in the LPB and develop their skills'

LPB: What's your evaluation on the roster of Gigantes?
NS: 'It has variety. Most of the players don't have experience in this tournament and are developing so they can conquer more minutes on court. Most of them have played one or two minutes per match with other teams when they were actually used by their coaches, and it was usually when the team was either winning or loosing by 20-plus points. The important thing is that they're earning confidence and the minutes to show their talent. Imported players are quality players and they're helping the team to improve'

LPB: How do you see the development of Gigantes in future matches?
NS: 'As the season advances, we'll adjust the pieces and they'll improve their game. I know the team's gonna pay a tough price cause it's the first campaign in the LPB, but we'll put up a tough battle at least'

LPB: What are the weaknesses and strenghts of Gigantes de Guayana?
NS: 'The weakness is that most of the players have not seen enough minutes on court. Our main strength is our will to succeed and win'

LPB: You had the chance to coach Marinos and Panteras in previous seasons. How were those experiences for you?
NS: 'The three have been different. For example, Marinos is a team that knows how to win and it was easy to coach. Gigantes, is a much younger squad. But patience is required for different plays to turn out well'

LPB: What's the main objective of the club in this season?
NS: 'To win. The will to succeed we've got is there and though we're not a team with big names, we'll put up a fight. If it were a matter of names, there would be a champion already just by reading the rosters, but the games are won on court, not outside of it'

LPB: What has the general management said so far?
NS: 'They're enthusiastic and are doing what they can to get fans to attend the games. They're always looking for better imported players. They're willing to do whatever it takes cause it's their first year in the LPB. Though we can loose, we also can win. The goal is to get to the playoffs spots'

LPB: A message for the fans of Gigantes
NS: 'I ask them to be patient. Sometimes we'll loose, but we'll also win. I want them to know that we're counting on their support and I ask them not to get disappointed after a defeat. We want to give them a good spectacle. We have the mentality to win. The games are won by playing all 40 minutes'

Odell Bradley, best player in Week 4 -by Francisco Vega
American forward Odell Bradley (193-F/G-81), of Gigantes de Guayana, was awarded as Player of the Week in the fourth week of Liga Profesional de Baloncesto 2008, after he averaged 25.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in three outing of his team, including a two-game sweep at home over Guaros de Lara.

So far, the four weekly honors awarded have been for imported players. Ronald Blackshear (196-G-78), of Guaros de Lara, won it in Week 1 and was followed by Cornelius Mitchell (180-G-82), of Panteras de Miranda, and Kenya Capers (194-F-73), of Gatos de Monagas.

*****************************************************
WCBPL

Breakers announce home schedule and players -by Gianni Pascucci

The Santa Barbara Breakers will start their second pro basketball season with a new league, new rules, new faces and newly reduced ticket prices. Thirteen of the Breakers' 20 games will be played at SBCC's Sports Pavilion, starting with the weekend of April 11-12 against the Newport Beach Surf and Hollywood Shooting Stars. All home games begin at 7:05 p.m. The Breakers are coming off a stellar rookie campaign that produced a 17-6 record in the IBL and a runner-up finish in the Western Division playoffs. They won' t play anymore in the IBL, however, but in the brand new West Coast Pro Basketball League, made of eight teams, along with several others from the American Basketball Association, which completed the 2007-08 season this month. The Breakers are coming off a stellar rookie campaign that produced a 17-6 record and a runner-up finish in the Western Division playoffs. The Breakers 2008 lineup features Tyler Newton (6'11''-C-75, college: Pacific), who averaged 12.7 points and 8.4 rebounds last year and was the only Breaker to appear in all 23 games during the IBL campaign. The other top names are Allan Purnell (6'4''-G-82, college: Pacific) and Rashid Byrd (7'0''-C-81, college: E.Oklahoma St. JC) - who both played for the Breakers last year - along with former USC player Jerry Dupree (6'7''-F-81, agency: Life Sports, college: USC). Other team members are Josh Merrill (6'9''-F-74, college: UCSB) and Shantay Legans (5'10''-G-81, agency: Court Side, college: Fresno St.). The team is coached by Team Owner Curt Pickering. For info about tickets and games, visit the offiical team website http//:breakersbasketball.com





*****************************************************

Women News

*****************************************************
BOSNIA - Women

Standings - Women
D1 Standings
1. Zeljeznicar 18-0
2. Jedinstvo 15-3
3. Celik 13-5
4. Spars 12-6
5. Brotnjo Citluk 10-8
6. Banovici 9-9
7. Mladost BL 6-12
8. Zrinjski 4-14
9. Sloboda 3-15
10. Jablanica 0-18
Will join on later stage:
1. M.Kraj. BL -


The end of the regular season -by Eurobasket News
KK Zeljeznicar won all 18 games of the regular season and will try to give the real battle to the Adriatic league representative from Bosnia KK Mladi Krajisnik. Both teams might face each other in the Final, but before that they have another opponents. KK Jedinstvo meets KK Mladi Krajisnik, while
KK Zeljeznicar faces KK Celik. The first games are planned for April 5th.
Meanwhile Azra Becirovic (182-G-80) finished the EuroCup season with BC Moscow on the second place. A desirable triumph went to Italy as Schio overcame Russian squad even away from home. Italian team won the trophy with 69:78 and total 165-136 advantage. Azra Becirovic averaged 3.3 points per game and had 1 rebound. In the Quarterfinals BC Moscow won the campaign of the Russian battle outscoring Chevakata 68:58 in the second game and 70:68 in the first. A 21:9 in the opening quarter was a good start for the hosts. Ekaterina Savelyeva led all the winners with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Monique Currie collected 15 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds, while Plenette Pierson nailed 14. Elena Volkova ended up with 18 points for the visitors.
After 70:68 in Vologda the game was almost restarted again. BC Moscow however proved the power to open the game with 7-0 run. Elena Danilochkina closed the first quarter for 21:9 hosts' advantage. The tempo went down later in the game as both teams scored 21 points in the next quarter. Moscow team held the 32:19 deficit when two squads went to the lockers. Bokareva and Moore followed with two free throws each and Hasper added a jump shot to cap the 9-0 spurt in the second. The guests stayed closer at 37:35 with less than three minutes to go in the third period. Again it was Elena Danilochkina who closed the third quarter at 42:37. Sapova brought the most interesting moment in the beginning of the last quarter when she reduced the contest to 42:40, but BC Moscow had their tasks. With the help of Ekaterina Savelyeva and Monique Currie the home side increased the lead in the last quarter. Monique Currie set up the final score, 68:58 that gave BC Moscow total 138:126 victory.
BC Moscow denied a 6-point deficit after the first leg of the EuroCup semifinal against Elizur Ramla and easily secured their Final birth. Israeli fought bravely early in the first term but the hosts overwhelmed them eventually and celebrated a coasting victory that saw them reach the EuroCup title decider. Shay Doron scored first 4 points for Ramla as they stayed ahead in the opening minutes of the encounter. Ivona Jerkovic added 4 more and Katia Abramzon hit from downtown as Ramla held on to a 13:12 lead with 5 minutes gone in the game. But 10 points from Alexandra Latysheva and Elena Danilochkina put BC Moscow up 22:15. Plenette Pierson capped the first frame with a jumper to make it 26:17 for the home team. Monique Currie, Ekaterina Savelyeva and Plenette Peirson stretched the gap to 14 points at the start of the second term. Ivona Jerkovic converted a bunch of free throws for Elizur Ramla but back-to-back treys from Alexandra Latysheva and Azra Becirovic widened the gap to 17 points. BC Moscow maintained the lead and ended the first half in front 46:30. Azra Becirovic had 5 points for her team that time.

*****************************************************
CZECH REPUBLIC - Women

Time for the Quarterfinals -by Eurobasket News
April 4th and 5th are the opening days for the quarterfinals in Czech Republic. Gambrinus and USK Praha will need to prove once again that the teams will deserve a Final.
In Round 8 Gambrinus Sika Brno had a road win over ZVVZ USK Praha 60:78.
In Round 17 of Czech ZBL brought Gambrinus and USK Praha clashed in Brno. Gambrinus extended their perfect run as they bumped their arch-rivals 91:76. USK Praha scored the first 5 points and grabbed an early lead. Katerina Elhotova (179-G-89)soon nailed back-to-back three-pointers to put the visitors up by 6 points 13:7. Later Jannell Burse and Michaela Pavlickova teamed up for 9 points as USK Praha accumulated a 22:8 lead. Marketa Mokrosova netted 5 consecutive points and USK Praha led by as many as 18 points. Finally Gambrinus began to return to life. Timea Beres scored 6 points, while Hamchetou Maiga (185-G/F-78, college: ODU) added 7 for the hosts to trim the gap to 10 points 30:40 midway through the second stanza. Hana Machova capped the first half with 4 straight points for Gambrinus and they trailed 46:51 at halftime. Ivana Vecerova (194-C-79) and Tamika Whitmore quickly nailed 4 points to open the second half and Gambrinus climbed within a single point from USK Praha. Marketa Mokrosova drained a trey as the visiting side maintained the advantage for some time but the home team soon denied it. Hana Machova was perfect from charity stripe and Ivana Vecerova converted a jumper to put Gambrinus up by 3 points 59:56. Eva Viteckova (190-F-82) and Zuzana Zirkova (175-F/G-80) fired from beyond the arc and Gambrinus opened a double digit lead for the hosts. But not for too long as Jannell Burse, Katerina Elhotova and Elodie Godin made it all square at 68 after 30 minutes of action. Eva Viteckova poured in 4 points and Hamchetou Maiga added 4 more to carry Gambrinus to an 82:72 distance. USK Praha failed to come any closer to the hosts and lost the battle. Hamchetou Maiga paced the hosts with 17 points and 7 boards. Hana Machova provided 15 points and 10 boards, while Eva Viteckova added 15 points for the winners. Lindsay Whalen nailed 23 points and pulled down 7 boards for USK Praha. Marketa Mokrosova contributed 17 points in defeat.
In the third game USK Praha once again could not match the Czech powerhouse Gambrinus losing to them in the opening round of the second stage of ZBL. Gambrinus overwhelmed their arch-rivals 86:51 to hand USK Praha the third loss in the season. Kulichova and Eva Viteckova opened the scoring list with 4 points for Gambrinus. Katerina Elhotova and Lindsay Whalen quickly restored a tie-game but soon Zuzana Zirkova connected from afar to put the hosts in front. Hamchetou Maiga scored 4 straight points and Gambrinus cleared off to a 15:6 distance. She later capped the first frame with 4 more points and the home team enjoyed a 21:13 lead after 1o minutes. USK Praha could not scored for more than 4 minutes at the beginning of the second frame and the gap grew to 27:13. Finally Ferancikova broke the scoring drought but Gambrinus were already on the march. Hamchetou Maiga and Jana Vesela stretched the lead 15 points. Zuzana Zirkova crowned the first half with 5 points in a row to accumulate a 43:23 advantage for the hosts at halftime. The teams exchanged buckets throughout the third period but the visitors struggled to get any closer. Eva Viteckova stepped up with 5 consecutive points midway through the period and Gambrinus posted a 60:34 cushion. The home team enjoyed a 70:38 lead after three quarters and Gambrinus never looked back afterwards winning 86:51. Hamchetou Maiga finished with 18 points and 10 boards for Gambrinus. Eva Viteckova contributed 12 points, while Zuzana Zirkova and Timea Beres had 10 points apiece in a win. Katerina Elhotova responded with 15 points and 6 boards for USK Praha. Lindsay Whalen dropped 12 points in a losing case.

*****************************************************
D.R. CONGO - Women

Ngoyisa wins EuroCup -by Eurobasket News
Bernadette Ngoyisa (195-C-82) and her Italian Schio won Eurocup playing a great re-tour-match in Moscow, after the comfortable 20-points cushion earned at home in the first leg. By winning Eurocup, Schio assured a place in next Euroleague.
The way to the Trophy was hard bu the team and Bernadette Ngoyisa struggled tough. In the Quarterfinal Italian Schio completed their task of qualifying to the semifinal of EuroCup cruising past Croatian Gospic. Schio were victorious in the first game of the teams back in Croatia 68:63 and were hopeful before the return leg at home. Gospic needed a miracle to surpass their opponents but it never came as Schio dominated the home encounter. Deanne Butler and Laura Macchi teamed up for 10 points in a 16:2 run from the hosts to open the game. Katarina Maloca scored 4 straight points for Gospic to cut the deficit but Deanne Butler nailed a three-pointer to make it 21:8 for the hosts. Sandra Popovic-Mandir and Katarina Maloca closed the margin to 9 points however the home team capped the frame with a 26:14 advantage. Sandra Popovic-Mandir scored a jump shot at the start of the second term and later Cori Enghusen added another jumper to finalize a scoring tally for Gospic in the second term. Schio kept the Croatian team scoreless for more than 6 minutes in the second frame and stretched the lead to 26 points at halftime 44:18. Sandra Popovic-Mandir and Katarina Maloca adjusted offense for Gospic in the third stanza but it was too late to hope for any kind of positive result. Sandra Popovic-Mandir accounted for 9 points for Gospic and the visitors managed to outscore Schio 20:18 in the quarter. But with the starting five players back on court Schio easily regained the initiative and Bernadette Ngoyisa scored 4 points, while Laura Macchi added two more as Schio restored a 27-point buffer early in the fourth term. The hosts then coasted to an impressive overall win. Bernadette Ngoyisa and Laura Macchi scored 16 points apiece to pace Schio. Bethany Donaphin contributed 12 points in a winning case. Sandra Popovic-Mandir answered with 24 points for Gospic. Katarina Maloca dropped 10 points in defeat.
Galatasaray did not manage to upset Schio in the EuroCup semis and advance to the Final. Having built a hopeful 8-point buffer in Istanbul Galatasaray looked forward to securing it in Schio. But the hosts turned out too good for Galatasaray. Sophia Young scored a jumper to put the visitors up at the start of the game but it was the last time the Turkish side enjoyed the lead in the encounter. Elisabetta Moro drained a three-pointer to ignite a 16:6 run from the hosts to make it 20:10 with 3 minutes to play in the first frame. Sophia Young scored 6 points to keep Galatasaray alive but Schio still finished the first term up by 9 points 26:17. The things got even worse for the visitors as Federica Ciampoli and Raffaella Masciadri extended the gap early in the second period. Laura Macchi and Elisabetta Moro drilled back-to-back trebles and Schio ran away to a 36:21 distance. Isil Alben and Petra Ujhelyi scored 4 free throws and Sophia Young added a jumper to drag Galatasaray within 13 points from Schio. Federica Ciampoli and Bethany Donaphin fired 6 points late in the first half to seal the outcome at 48:31 for Italian side at the long break.
Sophia Young remained delivering for Turkish team as she notched 4 more points early in the third term. However Bernadette Ngoyisa dropped 5 in a row and Masciadri added a three-pointer as Schio built an unassailable 60:35 advantage with less than 4 minutes left in the third stanza. Sophia Young was obviously the lone fighter in the field for Galatasaray as she knocked down 4 free throws to trim the deficit a bit. Petra Ujhelyi had the last say in the period and the visitors entered the fourth quarter trailing by 21 points. The teams traded baskets throughout the major part of the fourth frame and Galatasaray struggled to come any closer. They finally closed the gap to 17 points on free throws from Sophia Young but Laura Macchi dropped 4 straight free throws to deny any hopes for Turksih team. Bernadette Ngoyisa averaged 11.0 points per game and had 5.1 rebounds.

*****************************************************
EUROCUP WOMEN - Women

Schio won Eurocup in Moscow -by Carlo Grilli
BC MOSCOW - BERETTA FAMILA SCHIO 69-78
(18-25; 33-39; 49-56)
BC Moscow: Latysheva 3 (0/4, 0/2), Currie 16 (4/15, 2/5), Vukicevic, Becirovic (0/1, 0/2), Savelyeva (0/2, 0/2), Beglova 6 (0/1, 2/4), Zakalyuzhnaya 5 (2/5), Danilochkina 18 (2/7, 4/6), Logunova, Plenette Pierson (188-F/C-81, college: Texas Tech) 17 (5/7, 1/1), Grishaeva 4 (2/2).
Beretta Famila Schio: Consolini 1, Moro 14 (1/3, 3/5), Butler 2 (1/2, 0/3), Bethany Donaphin (190-C-80) 16 (7/10), Masciadri 12 (3/5, 2/8), Rubino 2 (1/1), Ngoyisa 3 (1/1), Ress 10 (5/6), Ciampoli (0/1), Laura Macchi (187-F-79) 18 (5/8, 2/5).

Schio won Eurocup playing a great retour-match in Moscow, after the confortable 20-points cushion earned at home in the first leg.
The Italian squad had an impressive Bethany Donaphin (190-C-80) and Laura Macchi since the first quarter (18-25), while on the Russian side Plenette Pierson and Elena Danilochkina tried to cut the gap. Schio took the control of the rhythm and preserved the advantage both at halftime (33-39) and at the end of third quarter (49-56), even though Monique Currie's hand was red hot. Elisabetta Moro netted in some crucial buckets for Schio, helped by Kathrin Ress and Raffaella Masciadri (185-F-80), and Schio never trailed all night long, untill the final triumph.
By winning Eurocup, Schio assured a place in next Euroleague.

*****************************************************
GUATEMALA - Women

National team starts preparation phase for Centrobasket 2008 -by Victor Padilla
The National Basketball Federation of Guatemala announced that, starting next week, the COCABA 2007 Women Champions will begin their preparation for the Centrobasket 2008 tournament that will be hosted by Puerto Rico in the second half of July. Head Coaches Miguel Del Rio (Cuba), Otto Larios (Guatemala) and Jaime Kong (Costa Rica) have been appointed to lead the efforts of a group of talented young players that, along with Costa Rica, will represent Central America in a tournament that will showcase strong teams from the Caribbean region (Cuba: last Champions of 2006, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad y Tobago) and Mexico. Known stars from the past National Team (Rivera, Amado, Valdes and Galvan) as well as new promising players from teams like the National Champion Mystics (Vasquez and Loaiza) will jump to the court starting Monday to fight for a spot in the final roster, in an effort to earn results and recognition outside of the Central American region. Action for Centrobasket 2008 starts at Morovis, Puerto Rico on July 17, 2008.

*****************************************************
HUNGARY - Women

Uniqua NB1 - Round 22 -by Adam Patonay
Zala Volan ZTE - Seat Foton Gyor 81:70
Zala Volan: Lidiya Milkova (192-C-70) 22/3 (5 reb, 4 stl), Pungor K. 18/9 (5 ass), Horvath Zs. 11/3
Gyor: Borovickova B. 16/9, Margeviciute R. 23 (8 reb), Szakacs I. 12/3

Atomeromu Szekszard - BSE 50:63
Szekszard: Maksimovic M. 18/3, Tamas R. 10/6
BSE: Iglesias C. 15/6 (9 rebd, 7 stl, 5 ass), Furesz D. 13/6, Aties Z. 16 (8 reb)

Vasas Csata - Mizo Pecs 2010 52:94
Csata: Fritz J. 15/3
Pecs: Somogyi A. 10/3 (9 reb), Ivanyi D. 12 (13 ass, 8 reb), Vajda A. 10/3, Coelho G. 10, Podrug E. 22 (12 reb), Krivacevic T. 12

BEAC Ujbuda - Savaria BC Szombathely 70:50
BEAC: Krisztina Sule (177-F-87) 29/12 (14 reb), Szasz E. 14/3, Karasz L. 10 (8 reb)
Savaria: Jonee B. 10

MKB Euroleasing Sopron - Szolnoki NKK 87:58
Sopron: Gorbunova O. 18, Horti D. 13 (9 reb), Semsei B. 10/3
Szolnok: Djelmis A. 17/15, Boskovic M. 10/6, Jekatyerina Szavercsenko (180-G/F-86) 10

Cegledi EKK - Szeviep Szeged 51:77
Cegled: Ruttner Zs. 10/6 (7 stl), Williams T. 20 (13 reb), Serban A. 12/3 (8 reb)
Szeged: Zherzherunova O. 15 (11 reb), Tomova M. 16, Russai P. 14/6 (8 reb), Vrantcheva I. 11/3 (5 ass)

*****************************************************
IRAN - Women

Women National Team participated in the WABA Championships -by Eurobasket
Big news for women basketball as Iran is joining the list by sending their women national team to the WABA Championships. So far the news from Iranian basketball were dominated only by men league, which is one of the top ones in Asia. The situation will not change. However it's very important to mention a significant step as for the first time after the revolution, Iranian women national team just participated in the international event. The tournament is WABA (West Asian Basketball Association) and it takes place in Alleppo in Syria.
It's a big step as if the changes go in proper direction (if that's not too early to talk about it), Iran would be capable to create one of the strongest women leagues in Asia. Asian women basketball is dominated by China, which have way stronger team than any other Asian country can assemle. The only professional women league in Asia, which allows import players is Japan. Even Korean KWBL, which used to allow import players, changed the rules and they declared their league off-limit for imports. Many WNBA players, who have the league only in summer months in the States, do not have chance to play during regular winter season. They have just Europe and two other countries (Australia and Philippines) to choose from, so it's a very limited job market. I do not think Iran would go with the full speed to turn Iranian women league into fully high-level professional organization like they did with men basketball. Afterall men sport is way more promoted in Iran than women disciplines. But regardless of that it's a huge step ahead and we should congratulate Iranian federation for achieving milestone in this area.

*****************************************************
ITALY - Women

Schio, the Eurocup is yours! -by Carlo Grilli
BC MOSCOW - BERETTA FAMILA SCHIO 69-78
(18-25; 33-39; 49-56)
BC Moscow: Latysheva 3 (0/4, 0/2), Currie 16 (4/15, 2/5), Vukicevic, Becirovic (0/1, 0/2), Savelyeva (0/2, 0/2), Beglova 6 (0/1, 2/4), Zakalyuzhnaya 5 (2/5), Danilochkina 18 (2/7, 4/6), Logunova, Pierson 17 (5/7, 1/1), Grishaeva 4 (2/2).
Beretta Famila Schio: Consolini 1, Elisabetta Moro (174-G-75) 14 (1/3, 3/5), Butler 2 (1/2, 0/3), Donaphin 16 (7/10), Masciadri 12 (3/5, 2/8), Rubino 2 (1/1), Ngoyisa 3 (1/1), Ress 10 (5/6), Ciampoli (0/1), Laura Macchi (187-F-79) 18 (5/8, 2/5).

Schio won Eurocup playing a great retour-match in Moscow, after the confortable 20-points cushion earned at home in the first leg.
The Italian squad had an impressive Bethany Donaphin and Laura Macchi since the first quarter (18-25), while on the Russian side Plenette Pierson and Elena Danilochkina (184-G-86) tried to cut the gap. Schio took the control of the rhythm and preserved the advantage both at halftime (33-39) and at the end of third quarter (49-56), even though Monique Currie's hand was red hot. Elisabetta Moro netted in some crucial buckets for Schio, helped by Kathrin Ress (193-F-85, college: Boston Coll.) and Raffaella Masciadri, and Schio never trailed all night long, untill the final triumph. By winning Eurocup, Schio assured a place in next Euroleague.

*****************************************************
LATVIA - Women

Gunta Basko speak about playing Basketball in France -by Leslie Anderson

Latvian international Gunta Basko (181-F-80, college: Siena) speaks about her experience in playing in France. Grace Daley (170-G-78, college: Tulane), Allyson Hardy (170-G-83, college: Bowie St.) and Serbain international Jasmina Ilic (185-G/F-85, college: Colorado) are three other players that also talk about their time in France.


Basko does not only speak about basketball while Kathy Wambe (174-G-81) and Jucimara Dantas (188-C-78) both from Villeneuve make comparison to their home countries.


You can listen to all the players statement here



*****************************************************
LITHUANIA - Women

First semifinals belong to TEO and Laisve -by Eurobasket News
TEO and Arvi won the first semifinal games in Lithuania. If TEO truthfully defeated Lemminkainen at home, then Laisve took a win from Arvi away from home.
The defending champion overcame Lemminkainen 71:43. TEO opened the game with 19:13 and even paid more attention to defense in the second quarter. The hosts spurted with 21:8 to take 19 points advantage. A 20:9 in the last quarter was the last ace for TEO. Sandra Valuzyte (176-G-82) and Jurgita Streimikyte (191-F-72) led the winners with 17 points each. Haynie followed them with 11 points as TEO took 1-0 lead in the series. Egle Siksniute (193-F-91) ended up with 11 points in defeat.
Laisve had a road win over Arvi 66:83. The game was tough and both squads stayed close to each other until the last period. In the final stanza Laisve produced 14:26 and won the first game. Jovita Jutelyte (187-F-71) was unstoppable with 30 points. Jolanta Marmiene (181-F-79) netted 22 and Daujadiene had 18. Andrea Bills (188-C-83, agency: LBM Management, college: Oregon) poured in 20 points in the losing effort.
The next games are planned for April 4th and 5th. The teams will change the courts and we will see another host squads.

Arvi -Laisve 66:83
Arvi:Andrea Bills 20, Aurime Rinkeviciute (180-F/G-90) 14
Laisvė:Jovita Jutelyte 30, Jolanta Marmiene 22, Daujadiene 18

TEO -Lemminkainen 71:43
TEO:Sandra Valuzyte 17, Jurgita Streimikyte 17, Haynie 11
Lemminkainen: Egle Siksniute 11

*****************************************************
MALI - Women

Maiga remained undefeated with Gambrinus in the regular season -by Eurobasket News
Hamchetou Maiga (185-G/F-78, college: ODU) did not taste a loss with her G ambrinus in Czech republic. April 4th and 5th are the opening days for the quarterfinals. Gambrinus and USK Praha will need to prove once again that the teams will deserve a Final.In the game between two favorites Gambrinus and USK Praha clashed round 17 game in Brno. Gambrinus extended their perfect run as they bumped their arch-rivals 91:76. USK Praha scored the first 5 points and grabbed an early lead. Katerina Elhotova soon nailed back-to-back three-pointers to put the visitors up by 6 points 13:7. Later Jannell Burse and Michaela Pavlickova teamed up for 9 points as USK Praha accumulated a 22:8 lead. Marketa Mokrosova netted 5 consecutive points and USK Praha led by as many as 18 points. Finally Gambrinus began to return to life. Timea Beres scored 6 points, while Hamchetou Maiga added 7 for the hosts to trim the gap to 10 points 30:40 midway through the second stanza. Hana Machova capped the first half with 4 straight points for Gambrinus and they trailed 46:51 at halftime. Ivana Vecerova and Tamika Whitmore quickly nailed 4 points to open the second half and Gambrinus climbed within a single point from USK Praha. Marketa Mokrosova drained a trey as the visiting side maintained the advantage for some time but the home team soon denied it. Hana Machova was perfect from charity stripe and Ivana Vecerova converted a jumper to put Gambrinus up by 3 points 59:56. Eva Viteckova and Zuzana Zirkova fired from beyond the arc and Gambrinus opened a double digit lead for the hosts. But not for too long as Jannell Burse, Katerina Elhotova and Elodie Godin made it all square at 68 after 30 minutes of action. Eva Viteckova poured in 4 points and Hamchetou Maiga added 4 more to carry Gambrinus to an 82:72 distance. USK Praha failed to come any closer to the hosts and lost the battle. Hamchetou Maiga paced the hosts with 17 points and 7 boards. Hana Machova provided 15 points and 10 boards, while Eva Viteckova added 15 points for the winners. Lindsay Whalen nailed 23 points and pulled down 7 boards for USK Praha. Marketa Mokrosova contributed 17 points in defeat.
In the third game USK Praha once again could not match the Czech powerhouse Gambrinus losing to them in the opening round of the second stage of ZBL. Gambrinus overwhelmed their arch-rivals 86:51 to hand USK Praha the third loss in the season. Kulichova and Eva Viteckova opened the scoring list with 4 points for Gambrinus. Katerina Elhotova and Lindsay Whalen quickly restored a tie-game but soon Zuzana Zirkova connected from afar to put the hosts in front. Hamchetou Maiga scored 4 straight points and Gambrinus cleared off to a 15:6 distance. She later capped the first frame with 4 more points and the home team enjoyed a 21:13 lead after 1o minutes. USK Praha could not scored for more than 4 minutes at the beginning of the second frame and the gap grew to 27:13. Finally Ferancikova broke the scoring drought but Gambrinus were already on the march. Hamchetou Maiga and Jana Vesela stretched the lead 15 points. Zuzana Zirkova crowned the first half with 5 points in a row to accumulate a 43:23 advantage for the hosts at halftime. The teams exchanged buckets throughout the third period but the visitors struggled to get any closer. Eva Viteckova stepped up with 5 consecutive points midway through the period and Gambrinus posted a 60:34 cushion. The home team enjoyed a 70:38 lead after three quarters and Gambrinus never looked back afterwards winning 86:51. Hamchetou Maiga finished with 18 points and 10 boards for Gambrinus. Eva Viteckova contributed 12 points, while Zuzana Zirkova and Timea Beres had 10 points apiece in a win. Katerina Elhotova responded with 15 points and 6 boards for USK Praha. Lindsay Whalen dropped 12 points in a losing case.

*****************************************************
MONTENEGRO - Women

MNT Super-League start on April 8,2008 -by Dragan Scepanovic
Montenegrin Woman Super-League start on April 8,2008 .In 1 Round of Montenegrin Woman Super-Legue will play in Podgorica Buducnost-Roling Niksic, in city of B.Polje Jedinstvo-Castel Nuovo form H.Novi.After end of Montenegrin Woman Super-League in second stage will be play Play-Off 1-4 , 2-3 on 2 win game.Winner of this game will play in Final of MNT championship 2007-2008.
1.Round : Buducnost-Roling , Jedinstvo-C.Nuovo 8/9.04
2.Round : Roling-C.Nuovo, Buducnost-Jedinstvo 12/13.04
3.Round: Jedinstvo-Rouling, C.Nuovo-Buducnost 15/16.04
4.Round: Roling-Buducnost,C.Nuovo-Jedinstvo 19/20.04
5.Round: C.Nuovo-Roling,Jedinstvo-Buducnost 22/23.04
6.Round: Rouling-Jedinstvo,Buducnost-C.Nuovo 26/27.04
Semi Final of Play-Off : 1-4 , 2-3 29/30.04
Final 10/ 11.05 or 3rd game 17.05

*****************************************************
NIGERIA - Women

Zenith Bank Women League - Sunshine Burns Dolphins -by Olusegun Ikuesan


Zenith Bank Women League - Sunshine Burns Dolphins -by Olusegun Ikuesan


Zenith League - Sunshine Burns Dolphins -by Olusegun Ikuesan


Zenith Bank Women League - Sunshine Burns Dolphins -by Olusegun Ikuesan


*****************************************************
RUSSIA - Women

Spartak and CSKA will close the regular season on April 6th -by Eurobasket News
Spartak (Moscow region) - Dynamo (Moscow) 82 : 70 (16-18, 21-13, 28-21, 17-18)

The game between Spartak and Dynamo was on the second plan last night as if the game between CSKA and UMMC was the key one. Anyway Spartak and Dynamo proved that they will be also the favorites of the play-offs and showed a great game. Spartak remained with 1 loss in the table winning 82:70. Lauren Jackson (196-F/C-81) top-scored for the winners with 25 points and 8 rebounds. Tina Thompson (188-F-75, agency: Merit Sports, college: USC) nailed 13 and Schegoleva Tatiana scored 11. Anete Jekabsone-Zogota (176-F-83) produced 17 points for Dynamo.
Without Anete Jekabsone-Zogota Aneta Dynamo did not look in their best style and now they are coming back on track. For sure the team will struggle with another 3 favorites CSKA, UMMC and Spartak. The game against the latter was opened in a good way after Dynamo took 16:18 lead. The guests looked optimistic and desired to finish the regular season truthfully. Spartak replied with 21:13 in the second and went to the lockers having 6 points deficit.
In the third quarter the hosts pushed the tempo and led the game into the current they needed. before the last quarter they had 13 points and kept the deficit.
On April 6th the teams of Russian Superlague will have the last games of the regular season. Spartak will face CSKA in the key game of the ....season.

Spartak (Moscow region):Lauren Jackson 25+8 rebs, Tina Thompson 13, Schegoleva Tatiana 11
Dynamo (Moscow): Anete Jekabsone-Zogota 17, Simona Augustus (185-G-84, college: LSU) 15

BC Moscow finishes second -by Eurobasket News
A very good season was finished by BC Moscow in EuroCup, but a desirable triumph went to Italy as Schio overcame Russian squad even away from home. Italian team won the trophy with 69:78 and total 165-136 advantage. Laura Macchi (187-F-79) led the winners with 18 points. Donaphin nailed 16, while Moro scored 14. Elena Danilochkina (184-G-86) top-scored for Russian squad with 18 points.
BC Moscow finished the tournament on the second place and it is a must to remember a tough road to the Final. In 1/8 Finals Greek Panionios lost also in the second leg of EuroCup Women to BC Moscow. It was still clear that the level of two teams differ a lot. Russian squad smashed Panionios 87:51 at home to reach 168:109 aggregate victory. Plenette Pierson (188-F/C-81, college: Texas Tech) paced the winners with 20 points. Monique Currie (183-G/F-83, agency: Ronsport, college: Duke) collected 12 points and 7 assists, while Elena Danilochkina scored 12.
In the Quartefinals BC Moscow won the campaign of the Russian battle outscoring Chevakata 68:58 in the second game and 70:68 in the first. A 21:9 in the opening quarter was a good start for the hosts. Ekaterina Savelyeva led all the winners with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Monique Currie collected 15 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds, while Plenette Pierson nailed 14. Elena Volkova ended up with 18 points for the visitors.
After 70:68 in Vologda the game was almost restarted again. BC Moscow however proved the power to open the game with 7-0 run. Elena Danilochkina closed the first quarter for 21:9 hosts' advantage. The tempo went down later in the game as both teams scored 21 points in the next quarter. Moscow team held the 32:19 deficit when two squads went to the lockers. Bokareva and Moore followed with two free throws each and Hasper added a jump shot to cap the 9-0 spurt in the second. The guests stayed closer at 37:35 with less than three minutes to go in the third period. Again it was Elena Danilochkina who closed the third quarter at 42:37. Sapova brought the most interesting moment in the beginning of the last quarter when she reduced the contest to 42:40, but BC Moscow had their tasks. With the help of Ekaterina Savelyeva and Monique Currie the home side increased the lead in the last quarter. Monique Currie set up the final score, 68:58 that gave BC Moscow total 138:126 victory.
BC Moscow denied a 6-point deficit after the first leg of the EuroCup semifinal against Elizur Ramla and easily secured their Final birth. Israeli fought bravely early in the first term but the hosts overwhelmed them eventually and celebrated a coasting victory that saw them reach the EuroCup title decider. Shay Doron scored first 4 points for Ramla as they stayed ahead in the opening minutes of the encounter. Ivona Jerkovic added 4 more and Katia Abramzon hit from downtown as Ramla held on to a 13:12 lead with 5 minutes gone in the game. But 10 points from Alexandra Latysheva and Elena Danilochkina put BC Moscow up 22:15. Plenette Pierson capped the first frame with a jumper to make it 26:17 for the home team. Monique Currie, Ekaterina Savelyeva and Plenette Peirson stretched the gap to 14 points at the start of the second term. Ivona Jerkovic converted a bunch of free throws for Elizur Ramla but back-to-back treys from Alexandra Latysheva and Azra Becirovic widened the gap to 17 points. BC Moscow maintained the lead and ended the first half in front 46:30.

*****************************************************
SERBIA - Women

Hemofarm remains undefeated -by Eurobasket News
Hemofarm smashed another opponent that time away from home 66:102. USCE's task was not to give the guests three digits but the last quarter was fatal for them. Hemofarm won it 12:30 and made the score inappropriate. Crvena Zvezda, being the second team in the standings overcame Proleter 66:62.
Meanwhile Milena Vukicevic (188-F/C-80) finished the EuroCup season with BC Moscow on the second place. A desirable triumph went to Italy as Schio overcame Russian squad even away from home. Italian team won the trophy with 69:78 and total 165-136 advantage. Milena Vukicevic averaged 11.4 points per game points per game and had 5.9 rebounds. In the Quarterfinals BC Moscow won the campaign of the Russian battle outscoring Chevakata 68:58 in the second game and 70:68 in the first. A 21:9 in the opening quarter was a good start for the hosts. Ekaterina Savelyeva led all the winners with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Monique Currie collected 15 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds, while Plenette Pierson nailed 14. Elena Volkova ended up with 18 points for the visitors.
After 70:68 in Vologda the game was almost restarted again. BC Moscow however proved the power to open the game with 7-0 run. Elena Danilochkina closed the first quarter for 21:9 hosts' advantage. The tempo went down later in the game as both teams scored 21 points in the next quarter. Moscow team held the 32:19 deficit when two squads went to the lockers. Bokareva and Moore followed with two free throws each and Hasper added a jump shot to cap the 9-0 spurt in the second. The guests stayed closer at 37:35 with less than three minutes to go in the third period. Again it was Elena Danilochkina who closed the third quarter at 42:37. Sapova brought the most interesting moment in the beginning of the last quarter when she reduced the contest to 42:40, but BC Moscow had their tasks. With the help of Ekaterina Savelyeva and Monique Currie the home side increased the lead in the last quarter. Monique Currie set up the final score, 68:58 that gave BC Moscow total 138:126 victory.
BC Moscow denied a 6-point deficit after the first leg of the EuroCup semifinal against Elizur Ramla and easily secured their Final birth. Israeli fought bravely early in the first term but the hosts overwhelmed them eventually and celebrated a coasting victory that saw them reach the EuroCup title decider. Shay Doron scored first 4 points for Ramla as they stayed ahead in the opening minutes of the encounter. Ivona Jerkovic added 4 more and Katia Abramzon hit from downtown as Ramla held on to a 13:12 lead with 5 minutes gone in the game. But 10 points from Alexandra Latysheva and Elena Danilochkina put BC Moscow up 22:15. Plenette Pierson capped the first frame with a jumper to make it 26:17 for the home team. Monique Currie, Ekaterina Savelyeva and Plenette Peirson stretched the gap to 14 points at the start of the second term. Ivona Jerkovic converted a bunch of free throws for Elizur Ramla but back-to-back treys from Alexandra Latysheva and Azra Becirovic widened the gap to 17 points. BC Moscow maintained the lead and ended the first half in front 46:30. Milena Vukicevic had 6 points and 7 rebounds in the first game.

*****************************************************
TURKEY - Women

Adana hosts Opel Women`s Cup -by Iva Ivanova

OPEL Turkish Cup Women will be played between 4th-6th April 2008, in Menderes Sports Hall in Adana. The press conference and draw has been arranged today in Hilton Hotel Adana. At the meeting take part turksih federation stuff, medias and clubs stuff. Adana is hosts Turkish Cup this year, cuase in a few year they got a progress into women basketball developement and also idea to build a good women basketball in that area. This progress is possible by the representative teams Botas spor and Ceyhan Bld. in TBBL and also good performance into FIBA Europe Cup.


The game program for the first day of OPEL Turkish Cup Women is as below:

12.30: Ceyhan Bld. - Besiktas Cola Turka
14.30: Cankaya Univ. - Galatasaray
16.30: Botas - Pankup TED Kayseri 18.30: Mersin - Fenerbahce