By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Before the exciting finish to the 2019-20 Basketball Champions League season, Keravnos launched its latest qualifying bid hoping to put Cyprus on the multinational BCL map by earning a spot in the 2020-21 Regular Season. In Athens, Hereda San Pablo Burgos was crowned champion marking the completion of a season hit by the coronavirus pandemic, while in Nicosia the Cypriot club on its own mission became the first team of the island country qualifying for the group stage. The opening round of the Regular Season showed that more is likely to come.
“First of all, I am happy that my team showed up and played hard with some dignity and pride,” said Ahmaad Rorie immediately after the overtime loss to JDA Dijon Tuesday evening, “A lot of people did not even think we were going to make it here. We played hard the whole game.”
Coming out of Montana, the 2019 Big Sky Tournament MVP moved his talents to Cyprus to begin his pro career. COVID-19 forced a premature ending, but Rorie re-signed for a second season. He averaged 12 points per contest in the qualifiers in the historic wins opposite to Iraklis and Donar helping his side advance. He went on with a team-high 23 points in the group stage opener nearly landing the upset.
“We are disappointed for sure,” confessed head coach Christophoros Livadiotis, “My players gave everything they got on the court. We came with the right gameplan for this game. We were ahead in the score for 32-33 minutes out of 45. For most of the part, we did a lot of things right to be in that position. We controlled the rhythm until the end of the third quarter. We controlled the rebounds. We controlled our turnovers. Those were the main things we had discussed.”
Keravnos, after a couple of failed qualifying ventures and three overall for teams from Cyprus in the Champions League qualifying rounds, made it through and traveled to France for the first-ever Regular Season contest. Underdog status at Dijon was a given. However, the experienced BCL side had to dig really deep in order to claim the “W”.
Rorie made 3/7 twos and 3/4 threes, he also produced seven rebounds, three assists, and one steal for a 25 efficiency rating in the Round 1 affair. The focused team effort on both sides of the ball was not enough. The hosts powered through adversity created by Keravnos to prevail after five extra minutes.
“They are a really good team. I feel like we played well. There is nothing for us to be ashamed of. We just got to get better, go back to the drawing board. We will be fine,” argued Rorie, “It was loud. We hadn’t played with a lot of fans since last year. We are just trying to be on the same page with our coach. We knew they were going to come back. They stayed poised and calm. It was hard. I felt like we got a little tired. They definitely went on a run and won.”
Challenges will not be easier moving forward into the 2020-21 season with BCL regular ERA Nymburk and Turkish club Tofas rounding up Group B. However, any team potentially underestimating Keravnos can face yet another upset bid. In this case, the Cypriot outlet’s boss Livadiotis praised his players for their performance in France.
“I told my players they have to be proud,” he said, “We showed as a club that nothing was by luck. My guys deserve to be in the Basketball Champions League.”
Keravnos has captured seven championships in Cyprus establishing itself as an enforcer at the domestic level. The Basketball Champions League accepted as the top stage in terms of stretching the playing field all around Europe can display the progress of both the club itself and the country, maybe even gain comparisons to recent European success in football or if preferred soccer.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League