Šiauliai-7bet went on a 18-1 run midway the fourth quarter to beat Basket Brno 84-73 and secure a historic spot in the first ever ENBL final on Wednesday, April 6, at the Hala Mistrzow in Wloclawek, Poland.
Players of the game
Martynas Varnas scored seven of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to engineer the game winning run.
Forward made 6-of-9 shots inside the three point line and added 4-of-6 attempts from the charity stripe, as well as four assists.
Arminas Urbutis led all scorers with 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
Šiauliai captain grabbed six rebounds too.
Isaiah Armwood was highly effective.
A former Villanova and George Washington standout had 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 from the free throw line.
Baltimore, Maryland native made some big shots in the fourth quarter.
Paulius Danusevicius had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Donatas Sabeckis chipped in with 10 points and 10 assists.
Eight of those assists were registered in the first half.
Four Basket Brno players finished in double figures.
Jakub Nečas led his team with 12 points, including a 3-of-5 effort from the deep.
Šimon Puršl scored 11 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists before he was fouled out.
Richard Balint also had 11 points, despite struggling from the three point line.
Viktor Pulpan registered 10 points and seven assists.
Last but no least, Jakub Krakovič had eight points and 10 rebounds.
Key stats
Basket Brno entered the game with one of the two Twin Towers – Šimon Puršl got a bigger load due to absence of Dean Hunter Mickelson.
Šiauliai-7bet applied more pressure inside.
The Sun City team outrebounded Brno in the first half 20-12 and forced more fouls 18-10.
Šiauliai players made 19-of-23 free throws until the break compared to 10-of-11 for Brno.
The Lithuanians also connected 13-of-17 two point shots, while Brno attacked from the deep.
Šiauliai went scoreless for five minutes at the beginning of the second half.
Brno after a 0-7 run cut the gap to a single point 51-50.
Arminas Urbutis saved the quarter for Šiauliai and scored eight consecutive points including a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe 59-54.
Brno went on another 0-4 run to stay as close as possible 59-58.
Balint and Necas added five consecutive points for a 59-63 lead with eight minutes to go.
Šiauliai didn`t panicked and scored nine points in three attacks to regain a 72-67 advantage with five minutes left.
Paulius Danusevicius was successful from the three point line, Armwood went coast-to-coast for “and one” and Sabeckis made a three point shot.
Puršl was fouled out with 03:55 left, while Šiauliai extended its lead up to to twelve points 79-67.
Game notes
Šiauliai-7bet played without Jon Elmore and Nemanja Bezbradica – both were injured in March.
Basket Brno also suffered a blow – Dean Hunter Mickelson got injured in the Czech Cup game.
Rashad Madden played six minutes only.
Mickelson`s former team Kansas won the 2022 NCAA championship on Monday, April 4.
Final Four 2022
Wednesday, April 6, semifinals
Šiauliai/7bet 84–73 Basket Brno
Anwil Wloclawek – Tartu Ulikool Maks&Moorits
Thursday, April 7
16:30 Bronze medal game
19:00 ENBL final
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Twitter: @ENBLeague
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