22 September 2020
Neptunas, Tsmoki-Minsk to battle it out in Qualifiers Group D Final
In the Semi-Finals on Tuesday, the Belarus champions prevailed 73-65 over group hosts Balkan Botevgrad, while Neptunas managed to fend off newcomers London Lions and clinch a 77-73 victory.
Tsmoki-Minsk used an 18-6 third-quarter run to pull away from Balkan Botevgrad and held off a late rally to clinch a 73-65 win over the group hosts and secure spot in Thursday's Qualifiers Group D final.
Aliaksei Trastsinetski knocked down a jumper to cap off Minsk's third-quarter spurt and lift the Belarusian team to their biggest lead of the night, 50-36 with 3:20 left in the third period.
Balkan still had enough gas left in the tank for a last charge and reduced the deficit to just one point, 59-58, shortly after the 4-minute mark of the final stanza.
On the next possession though Rob Lowery however sunk a jumper that sparked a 9-0 Minsk run and out the game beyond the Bulgarian team's reach.
Kris Clyburn led all Minsk scorers with 19 points and added 4 rebounds and 3 assists while Maksim Salash posted a double-double of 14 points and 10 boards and Vladimir Veremeenko had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Balkan's Tajuan Agee finished with 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting from the floor in a losing effort.