OPAP Basket League Play-Offs 2022

Keravnos Strovolou made it again and in the most decisive game of the season succeeded the necessary break in Larnaka against the all mighty team of AEK Larnakas and won the trophy which is the second as the Greek Head Coach Michalis Kakiouzis changed entirely the culture of the Strovolos team and shaped up the way of thinking, added some players that were totally forgotten by the previous Head Coaches, increased the rotation, gave decisive roles to the local players (with the previous coaches, the rotation was not only small but it was totally Americanized) and with just one change in his roster, changed the entire philosophy of the Strovolos team.

It is more than obvious that half of the trophy belongs to him, and the other half to his players and more precisely, the American Deondre Burns (190-G-1997, college: ORU, agency: Haylett Sports) was totally awesome in the most crucial game of the season, he scored 34 points being the man of the match and the finals and of course the MVP of the final series. Burns played in the 44:27 of the 45 minutes of the finals (with the OT) and he added other than his 34 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and won 9 fouls!! Malcolm Collins (193-G) with his double-double figures (16 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assist , 2 block shots and 1 steal) also played 44.56 of 45 minutes, while the Cyprus International Forward Nikolas Stylianoudis (181-F-1992) added 12 points and the newcomer power forward Romello White played his best game since his arrival in Cyprus and Keravnos Strovolou after scoring 11 points and 7 rebounds before fouled out (once more this season) playing 23 minutes!

So these were the top and expected players, but the ace in the sleeve for Michalis Kakiouzis was the (totally) forgotten from the previous Head Coaches in the Strovolos team, Ioannis Pashalis, the Cyprus International forward proved a lot in this final game when the ball was 'much heavier' than all the other games. Kakiouzis gave him quality time and the young player proved him right, after playing 17 minutes, scoring 8 points, 5 rebounds and 1 steal!! Filippos Tigkas (184-PG-2002) was not as good as he was in the previous game (MVP of the match) remaining in shallow waters with just 3 points and 1/5 shots, adding 2 assists in 21 minutes. Simon Michael the same, as the experienced point guard had 0/6 and only 3 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in 27 minutes! Three point also from Razis (he only played 10 minutes) adding 2 rebounds and 2 assist.

The final 88-90 in the OT is showing exactly the level of the game, an awesome game with Burns scoring the 2 of 2 free throws (87-90) on the foul won by the top gun of AEK Quentin Snider (188-G-1995, college: Louisville, agency: GoEmpire Group) (29 points) 5 seconds before the end, while the same player can be characterized as the fatal player for his team. Keravnos build a safety (in a way) deficit 59 seconds before the end of the OT (83-88) and that was possibly the turning point of the season!! AEK had the ex Keravnos player Jesse Hunt (203-F-1997, college: EWU) scoring 23 points and 12 rebounds, with Snider scoring 29, 5 rebounds and 9 assists and the veteran Sizopoulos playing nearly 42 minutes, scoring 15 points and 7 rebounds

Keravnos won the double and Kakiouzis is the main reason for this, as before his arrival the Strovolos team was nearly ready to collapse.. His arrival came the right time and both the trophies went to Strovolos in one of the most successful seasons of Keravnos Strovolou!