Photo: “University of Latvia”
The Latvian-Estonian Basketball League (LIBL) teams “University of Latvia” (UL), “Ventspils” and “Liepāja” on Wednesday celebrated convincing victories in the eighth final matches of the “Užava” Latvian Cup.
LU won the “Saldus” unit in the home match with the result 91:60 (21:15, 17:15, 26:17, 27:13) and won 171: 130 in the sum of two games. Norberts Strautiņš scored for students with 15 points and ten assists, but Pauls Miglinieks scored 14 points. Artūrs Kramiņš scored 18 points for Saldus team and Rendijs Feikners added 16 points.
Meanwhile, “Ventspils” defeated the basketball players of “Kandava” / “Anzāģe” with 132:80 (41:15, 29:21, 38:17, 24:27) in the answer game, winning 237: 143 in the sum of two matches. The top scorer for Ventspils with 25 points was Lerijs Tomass, who scored seven long shots, but Linards Jaunzems had 21 points and nine balls under the baskets. Guntars Strāķis and Artūrs Grīnbergs scored 18 and 17 points for their opponents, but Kārlis Lasmanis, the Olympic champion in 3 × 3 basketball, had nine points.
“Liepāja” in the first game won over Jelgava with 71:56 (20: 2, 20:14, 13:21, 18:19). In the Liepāja team, Kārlis Žunda was the most productive with 15 points, but Zigmārs Raimo and Kārlis Šiliņš scored in the “double-double”, with 13 + 12 and 10 + 10 in the points and rebounds, respectively. Kristaps Pļavnieks scored 24 points for Jelgava.
The answer game will take place on December 8 in Liepaja.
The winner of this pair will meet with Ventspils in the quarterfinals. The other pairs will have Valmiera Glass / ViA and Ogres duels, as well as the strength of LU and Līvāni, but the VEF Rīga team, which is starting in the international arena, will immediately have a place in the semifinals.
Last year, after a break of 26 years, the Latvian Cup in basketball was resumed, which was stopped in the autumn due to Covid-19 and did not resume later. This year, 21 teams from three leagues applied for the tournament. Four teams took part in the first round, but the Pafbet Latvian-Estonian Basketball League (LIBL) teams will meet in the fourth round.
The final is scheduled for February.
The last time the Latvian Basketball Cup was won was in 1994, when SWH / “Brocēni” won the trophy, winning the “Bonus” in the sum of two games.
