First quarter impossible to make up

In the match of the fourth round of the FIBA Europe Cup, PGE Spójnia Stargard lost to CSM CSU Oradea 65:77.

The leader of Group E came to Stargard. The club from Romania had won the previous three matches. PGE Spójnia had two wins and a loss before this meeting.

The first quarter did not work out for the hosts. For 10 minutes they scored only 4 points. PGE Spójnia’s ineffectiveness was exploited by their rivals, who, by scoring 26 points in this part, gained a high advantage early in the match and, as it turned out later, it was an advantage that the Stargard team could not make up.

In the second quarter we saw a different PGE Spójnia, which no longer had such problems with efficiency, and above all hit for 3 points. In this part it threw four times accurately from behind the 6.75m line. After three-point shots by TaLon Cooper, Sebastian Kowalczyk, and Pawel Kikowski, the visitors’ lead shrank to 15 points (13:28). From that point on, the Romanian club’s players were also more effective, the game evened out, and after 20 minutes CSM CSU was winning 43:24.

After a long break, Oradea did not let the hosts be surprised once again and guarded the high lead. This was the case for 7 minutes. Then TaLon Cooper hit a 3-pointer, Kacper Borowski, making his debut in PGE Spójnia, used one free throw, Yehonatan Yam added a three and in the 28th minute it was 42:57. In response, two effective actions in the Romanian team were recorded by Sayeed Pridgett, scoring 5 points in them, which again gave CSM CSU a 20-point lead. The third quarter was won by the guests with 23:19 and after 30 minutes they had 23 points more than the hosts.

The fourth quarter belonged to PGE Spójnia. The basketball players of the club from Stargard defended well, the opponent missed a lot and their lead was melting. Although the hosts were no longer able to turn the game around and win, they reduced the gap to 12 points. CSM CSU players threw only 11 points in this part. However, it was the Romanian team that enjoyed the victory in Stargard and remains undefeated in FIBA Europe Cup Group E.

PGE Spójnia Stargard – CSM CSU Oradea 65:77 (4:26, 20:17, 19:23, 22:11)

PGE Spójnia: Cooper 15 (3), Muhammad 10, Kowalczyk 9 (1), Martinez 7, Kikowski 6 (2), Gordon 5, Slupinski 5, Borowski 4 (1), Yam 3 (1), Langovic 1, Kruzynski.

CSM CSU: Brown 14 (2), Petrilevicius 13, Pridgett 12, Richard 11 (2), Tarolis 10, Williams 8, Young 4, Torok 3 (1), Nicolescu 2, Nastrut, Schmidt.

Team statistics:

PGE Spójnia: shooting efficiency – 36.2 percent (21/58), free throw efficiency – 60 percent (15/25), 2-point shooting efficiency – 41.9 percent (13/31), 3-point shooting efficiency – 29.6 percent (8/27), rebounds – 36 (offense 11, defense 25), assists – 11, interceptions – 7, losses – 14, blocks – 4.

CSM CSU: shooting efficiency – 46.6 percent (27/58), free throw efficiency – 66.7 percent (18/27), 2-point shooting efficiency – 59.5 percent (22/37), 3-point shooting efficiency – 23.8 percent (5/21), rebounds – 39 ( offense 10, defense 29), assists – 17, interceptions – 7, losses – 10, blocks – 3.

In its next FIBA Europe Cup match, PGE Spójnia will play an away game against another Romanian club, Fotbal Club Arges Pitesti, on November 6.