Latvian clubs split their FIBA Europe Cup assignments on Wednesday night: Valmiera Glass/ViA held off Manchester 80-74 at home for a second tournament win, while VEF Rīga produced a 97-65 road rout of Switzerland’s Fribourg Olympic, LSM reported. The results leave Valmiera third in Group F with a 2-3 record and VEF tied for second in Group H at 3-2. In the women’s FIBA Europe Cup, TTT Rīga avenged Monday’s loss by beating Israel’s Ramat Elitzur 80-75 at home, with Aubrey Griffin scoring 26 points and pulling down 12 rebounds, NRA reported.
Valmiera overcomes early deficit to beat Manchester 80-74
Valmiera Glass/ViA, competing as Vidzemes Augstskola, trailed early against the British side but answered with an 11-0 run to seize a stable lead, LSM reported. The first half had run smoothly according to Valmiera’s plan, and the hosts led 45-33 at the break. Manchester hit a similar run in the second half to tie the score, but the hosts regained the advantage and closed out the win. Apollo.lv listed the quarter scores as 26-18, 19-15, 18-27 and 17-14.
Briss McBride led Valmiera with 27 points and five assists, according to LSM. Aminu Mohamed added 14 points and 12 rebounds, Daniel Giddens scored 13 points with nine rebounds, and Artim Atem and Verner Koh each contributed nine points; Koh also pulled down six rebounds. Koh’s tournament average reached 13.2 points per game, second on the team behind McBride, Sportacentrs reported. For Manchester, Luke Nelson had 19 points, five rebounds and six assists, and Keon Thompson scored 18, Apollo.lv reported.
VEF Rīga’s 17-0 run sinks Fribourg Olympic on the road
In Group H, VEF Rīga opened the game on the back foot, trailing only in the first quarter when Fribourg built a five-point lead, LSM reported. After taking the lead, the team coached by Jevgēņijs Kosuškins unleashed a 17-0 run and at one point held a 35-point advantage en route to the 97-65 victory in Switzerland.
Džordans Sīrss led the visitors with 18 points. Mareks Mejeris and Ojārs Siliņš each scored 14, with eight and six rebounds respectively, while Aigars Šķēle added 13 points and six assists, according to LSM.
The win moved VEF Rīga to 3-2 in Group H, level with Romania’s Oradea and Bulgaria’s Lokomotiv Plovdiv and two games behind group leader Mykonos of Greece, which is 5-0. Fribourg sits at 1-4, and Neftchi of Baku is winless at 0-5, LSM reported.
What the results mean in the FIBA Europe Cup format
The FIBA Europe Cup’s group stage features 48 clubs divided into eight groups playing home-and-away rounds, Apollo.lv reported. The top two teams from each group advance to a second round of 16 teams split into four groups, with the top two from each reaching the quarterfinals; knockout ties are decided over two legs. Spain’s Bilbao won last season’s title, Apollo.lv noted.
For Valmiera, the 2-3 record keeps the club in third place in Group F, within range of the two advancing spots with five group games remaining. VEF Rīga’s road win in Fribourg gives it a 3-2 mark in a group where only Mykonos remains unbeaten.
The question still open for both clubs
Koh rated the side’s commitment a ten out of ten but the game flow only a seven, and noted that Valmiera plays well until the final minutes except against the French side. The loss extended Valmiera’s winless streak to three games across the FIBA Europe Cup and the domestic league, a sequence Koh compared to last season’s December slump in the Latvian-Estonian league, Sportacentrs reported. VEF, meanwhile, has yet to face Mykonos, the only perfect team in its group.
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