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“VEF Riga” lost on Tuesday in the last, sixth match of the main tournament of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Champions League, failing to qualify for the “play-in” round. Riga lost to Slovakian club Levice “Patrioti” with the result 69:85 (14:27, 24:21, 11:20, 20:17).
As Gulbis admitted at the post-match press conference, the team is currently forced to play games with an unusual lineup.
“Yesterday we lost one more player and today we played a match with nine basketball players. It would not be said that we are in the lane of failure, it is simply a difficult period in the formation of the team composition. If you want to win on the road, it is not permissible to concede 24 points due to your own mistakes,” said Gulbis.
Arnaldo Toro added that the match was tough because it was difficult to fight back after getting behind quickly.
“Opponents shot a lot and played aggressively and were in good positions for rebounds,” Toro said.
In order to enter the “play-in”, the players from Riga had to win and hope for the loss of “Szolniki” against AEK Athens, which had already secured the first place in the group. In the second game, the Hungarian team was superior at home with 80:69.
