By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
In control through all 40 minutes, U-BT Cluj Napoca rolled Prometey, 92-81, and went up to 3-0 in Basketball Champions League Group K.
Brandon Brown made all of his two-pointers and 9/12 field goals en route for a game-high 20 points before fouling out midway through the last quarter of the pushed-back Gameday 2 contest held at CEZ Sportovni Hala Nymburk. Elijah Stewart also fouled out relatively early packing 13 points.
Patrick Richard scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and five of his side’s 12/25 three-pointers. Stefan Bircevic posted a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double plus six assists. Both players shared a game-high 24 efficiency rating.
The Romania champions managed to improve to 35-2 across all competitions this season, including a 19-0 run in domestic Liga Nationala. The latest victory boosts chances of making the Quarterfinals in FIBA’s premier European club competition, after starting the 2021-22 bid back in the Qualifiers, as did Prometey.
Mihai Silvasan’s side remaining undefeated in the Round of 16 forced Prometey down to 2-1. D.J. Stephens scored a team-high 19 points playing catchup alongside his teammates all the way. The team coached by Ronen Ginzburg had four Champions League wins in a row but faced an entirely different situation.
The Ukraine champions were idle since February 16. The team was relocated to the Czech Republic ahead of Russia’s invasion and the ongoing war and expectedly did not play an official game before resuming the BCL campaign.
Before tip-off, players and other team members of both Prometey and the club based in Cluj-Napoca shared messages supporting peace in Eastern Europe and the rest of the world.
Postgame press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League