Today, on April 29, “Tsmoki-Minsk” met in the final, third match of the semifinal series with the wards of Predrag Mushicki on the opponent's home court. Having won two confident victories earlier, the "Dragons" once again retained victoria with the score 80:61 (15:13, 17:14, 19:18, 29:16), thereby ensuring an exit to the final of the national championship.
There were no surprises in the results of today's game. Despite the fact that the "Grodno-93" player got the first points for his team, from the middle of the first quarter after a three-point shot from Aliaksei Trastsinetski, Minsk residents slowly began to increase the advantage. In the first ten minutes of the game, the "Dragons" got used to the court, making several mistakes and losses. This allowed the Grodno residents to catch up with the Minsk residents with several accurate throws and maintain a minimum lag at the end of the first quarter – 13:15.
At the beginning of the second quarter, “Tsmoki-Minsk” demonstrated that they had time to get used to visiting, and made a breakthrough of 6 points thanks to accurate shots from Yauheni Beliankou and Daniil Barysevich (21:13). However, due to rebounds, the opponent from Grodno has already become more active, and the wards of the Serbian coach were able to make a retaliatory breakthrough – 20:21. In the seventh minute of the quarter, due to shots from the penalty line, Grodno equalized the score – 27:27. As a consequence of this scenario, Rostislav Vergun took a time-out for his team. The coach's instructions worked — with the reliable protection of their ring, Darol Hernandez-Zinenko and Yauheni Beliankou got 5 more points by the end of the second quarter. The teams went to the big break with a score of 27:32.
In the third quarter, Daniil Barysevich and Yauheni Beliankou scored 9 points of advantage for the team, both from the middle distance and from behind the arc - 44:35. Another three–point shot from Uladzislau Blizniuk allowed the "Dragons" to maintain a comfortable advantage at the end of the quarter - 51:45.
At 3:50 of the final quarter, “Tsmoki-Minsk” got 11 points of advantage thanks to two “three-point shots” in a row from Aliaksei Trastsinetski and Maksim Karattsou – 61:50. Predrag Muschicki decided to take a timeout, but the pressure of the “dragons” only began to increase. Finally, our players decided to arrange a sniper show – Yauheni Beliankou and Daniil Barysevich, as well as Kirill Vaskautsou, scored shots from behind the arc in the final quarter. "Tsmoki-Minsk" with a decent lead of 21 points completed the semifinal series of matches with another victory with a score of 80:61.
The most productive players at the end of the match:
"Tsmoki-Minsk": Daniil Barysevich — 21 + 3 REB +2 AST +1 STL, Yauheni Beliankou – 21 + 4 REB + 2 STL, Uladzislau Blizniuk – 14 + 5 REB + 1 AST + 2 STL.
"Grodno-93": Maxim Sazonov – 18 + 11 REB + 1 AST + 2 STL, Vladislav Shvakel – 14 + 5 REB + 1 AST + 2 STL.
Head coach of the team “Tsmoki-Minsk" Rostislav Vergun:
— In the playoffs, the score plays absolutely no role in this particular match. We understood that the series was moving to Grodno, where the hall is very non-standard. "Grodno-93" is a very unyielding team, with character. A lot of guys who are very familiar to us have passed through our "Tsmoki" system. The first 3 quarters we allowed the opponent too much, so the score was so equal. But in the end we made a breakthrough, gained our momentum, our power.
The player of the team “Tsmoki-Minsk" Darol Hernandez-Zinenko:
— Today we managed to play very well in defense, in attack. In the first half we were on equal terms, but in the third quarter we gathered and went to the end. Good teams play in the top four of the semifinal series. We will see who will reach the final with us and we will prepare.
The next – final games will take place with Mogilev “Borysthenes". In a fight of up to three wins, the national champion will be determined. The first match of the series will take place on May 6, the starting face-off at 7:00 PM.