By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
A long ride starting back in the qualification rounds at Sofia stretches into the Basketball Champions League Play-In Round for Prometey. Ronen Ginzburg’s team made short work of Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari landing the 89-56 victory and clinching the second opportunity to advance to the Round of 16.
Both D.J. Kennedy and Chris Dowe registered double-doubles pairing 16 points and 11 rebounds, and 15 points and ten rebounds, respectively. D’Angelo Harrison banked in a game-high 17 points in Wednesday’s Regular Season Round 5 contest. D.J. Stephens has been sidelined since Round 3, but his side made it to the brand new Play-Ins, besides extending the undefeated run in Ukraine’s SuperLeague to 16-0.
Prometey blew the game open before the break and kept pulling away in the second half. Effective long-range shooting with 11/21 three-pointers for the night paired with dominance in the paint made it simple.
Jason Burnell finished with 12 points at Yunist Palace of Sports as his side was held to the wrong end of the result for the eighth time in the last nine games across all competitions. The team led by recently-hired Piero Bucchi is also 3-8 in Italy’s LBA Serie A. Still recovering from a recent injury, teammate Stefano Gentile missed the trip to Zaporizhia.
Completing the two-game sweep over Sassari lifted the Ukraine champions to 2-3 in Group A. They will visit MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in Round 6 scheduled to be held on December 21 before moving to the Play-Ins set for early January. The Italian club forced to 1-4 will host Lenovo Tenerife to wrap up its fifth BCL campaign.
Postgame press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League