“VEF Rīga” basketball players Photo: Sandijs Leicis
United Championship
“VEF Rīga” and “Ventspils” won the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League (LIBL) games on Wednesday.
“VEF Rīga” beat the University of Latvia (UL) in the home game with 79:59 (18:15, 21:15, 7:28, 21:13).
Artis Ate scored 18 points in the field, while Jane Railley stood out with 15 points.
Gustavs Kampuss scored 12 points in favor of the University of Latvia, while Dāvids Vīksne accumulated 11 points.
Meanwhile, in the second game of the day, “Ventspils” won Rakvere’s “Tarvas” with 99:67 (26:10, 24:24, 29:13, 20:20) as guests.
Kristaps Ķilps was the most productive with 17 points, but Linards Jaunzems added 16 points and five assists.
Aleksa Nikoličs stood out with 16 points in the Rakvere unit.
“VEF Rīga” is in the leading position of the tournament table with 21 wins in 23 matches, while “Ventspils” takes the second place with 18 successes and two losses. “University of Latvia” is in the tenth position with five victories and 15 failures, but “Tarvas” is in 13th place in the competition of 14 teams with a balance of 4-18.
In the LIBL main tournament, the teams will play a two-round tournament until March 20. The top eight will compete in the quarter-finals, with the winners determined by the sum of two games. LIBL champions are expected to be determined in the final four tournament. The season will end with the elimination games of the Latvian and Estonian championships.
14 teams – six Latvian teams – “VEF Rīga”, “Ogre”, “Ventspils”, “Valmiera Glass” / “Vidzeme University”, “University of Latvia” and “Liepāja” participate in the LIBL championship in the season of 2021/22, as also eight Estonian teams – Tallinn “Kalev” / ”Cramo”, Rapla “Avis Utilitas”, “Parnu Sadam”, “University of Tartu” / “Maks & Moorits”, Rakvere “Tarvas”, Tallinn “Kalev”, “TalTech” / Optibet and Häme’s Viimsi.
European Northern League
“Liepāja” failed in the European Northern Basketball League (ENBL) game on its field on Wednesday.
The people of Liepaja experienced a devastation against “Brno” with 64:104 (8:31, 17:24, 25:20, 14:29).
Roberts Bērziņš was the top scorer in the home team with 17 points, who also collected five assists.
Meanwhile, in the Brno team, Richard Balints scored 26 points and scored nine times.
“Liepāja” with two victories in five games takes the sixth place in the tournament table, but “Valmiera Glass” / “Vidzeme University College” with six losses is the seventh in the games.
Eight teams from Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus and Russia will start in the first season of the ENBL, but after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the tournament organizers announced that the Russian and Belarusian clubs Krasnoyarsk Yenisei Mogilev Borisfen will be excluded from the competition.
Latvia is represented by the teams of Liepāja and Valmiera, which took the fourth and fifth place in the local championship last season. Also taking part in the tournament are Czech fourth-place owner Brno, Poland’s 13th-ranked Anwil of Wloclawek, Lithuania’s seventh strongest club Šiauliai, Belarus vice-champion Mogilev Borisfen, Estonia’s sixth team Tartu / Maks & Moorits and Krasnoyarsk Yenisei took 11th place in the United League.
The goal of ENBL is to bring together 16 teams next year, which would be divided into Baltic and North Sea divisions, adding clubs from the Nordic and Benelux countries.
The organizers of ENBL have previously founded the European Women’s Basketball League (EWBL), which has proven to be an international tournament binding on clubs.
