By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Latvia managed to get the win against Estonia, finishing the game 75-64 on home soil in the Latvian capital, Riga.
A few parameters set the tone for this one: Latvia were playing at home and were coming from two wins over Belgium and the Czech Republic, a loss to Lithuania, plus the loss in a close game against Ukraine yesterday. Estonia had a slow start to the tournament with two heavy defeats by the Czechs and the Belgians, then managed to find their footing somewhat and get a win over Ukraine, but then suffered another defeat in what was a close game against Lithuania.
Of course, the Estonians knew this one was crucial for them: if they lost they were out and Latvia went on to the next stage. Maybe this is why they had such an exceptionally strong start to the game, scoring almost twice as many points as their opponents and closing out the first quarter with a 14-point lead. In the second period the hosts fought back but still couldn’t reach the Estonians before the end of the half. In the third however, the home team kept it up and finally managed to catch up to the visitors and tie the game at 47-47, and then take the lead too (the Estonians closed out the third having scored a paltry 3 points). From that point on, the Latvians never looked back.
Ainars Bagatskis, Latvia’s coach, commented, “I told some journalists a few months ago that probably the key game would be between Latvia and Estonia. I was right. In the beginning we were very soft, we forgot about everything we were supposed to do on the court. Later on we began to control our emotions and do what is best for our team.” He said that after the game, “Our country’s president, parliament speaker and prime minister came to the locker room. We had a simple talk, we were really happy, they said thanks for the hard, aggressive basketball; it was good for all three Baltic counties.”
Janis Strelnieks had quite a game for the home team with 21 points, 5 boards and 3 assists. Another Janis – Timma – wasn’t far behind, scoring 15, collecting 6 rebounds and dishing 2 assists. Rolands Freimanis contributed 11 points, 5 rebounds plus 1 assist, and Dairis Bertans added another 9 points, 4 boards and 3 assists.
Gregor Arbet was the top scorer for Tiit Sokk’s team with 16 points, plus 6 rebounds and 1 assist. Janar Talts (1 rebound) and Joosep Toome (2 rebounds) got 12 and 10 respectively, and one of Tiit’s sons, Sten, got 8 points, 4 boards, and 5 assists before he was fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. 32-year-old Kristjan Kangur had a decent game with 9 points, 8 boards and 1 assist.
“It was a great first half for us,” coach Sokk said, “but in the second half they mixed the defense, played zone, we couldn’t find good shooting options and we didn’t deal with the mismatches. We started really badly in our first two games. After that we did okay, but today we played against the home team, which is difficult. We just started to play too late.”