Unbeaten streak snapped in Pécs

PEAC-Pécs - Sopron Basket 83-77 (12-18, 17-19, 32-17, 22-23)
Pécs

PEAC-Pécs: Sánta 4, Gémes-Sarok 11/3, Wentzel 8, Bravard 24/9, Udodenko 17/6 Sub.: Szabó F. 17, Hegedűs 2, Habling -, Ruják -, Horobets -, Kaposi -

Sopron Basket: January 11, Fegyverneky 8, Czukor -, Crvendakic 31/15, Határ 9 Sub.: Jovanovic 10, Dubei 5/3, Weninger 3/3, Varga A. -

Stats

2-PTS: 20/27 74% ill. 22/36 61%

3-PTS: 5/19 26% ill. 7/26 27%

FTS: 25/27 93% ill. 12/18 66%

Rebounds: 40 (Bravard 12) ill. 21 (Határ 5)

Assists: 14 (Gémes-Sarok 4) ill. 20 (Fegyverneky 11)

Steals: 0 ill. 12 (Fegyverneky 3)

Turnovers: 22 ill. 8

Faults: 24 ill. 22

EFF: 93 (Bravard 28) ill. 83 (Crvendakic 30)

Both sides started the game with a big defensive effort, the first basket was made by Udodenko almost three minutes into the first period. Then Aleks also hit a double to tie it up (3rd minute 2-2). After that Betti came up with a three-point play to turn the game our way, but the home side were still neck and neck with us after two free throws by Wentzel (4-5). With two minutes left on the clock the score was still tight, and we were in a small lead (8th minute 8-10). After that we came up with a 6-2 run led by Debi and Virág, both of whom buried triples, followed by an exchange of buckets by Bravard and Briann which set the score for the first ten minutes (10th minute 12-18).


Udodenko and Tina got the second period going with lay-ups, and then after a missed free throw our Serbian center put it back for two points increasing our lead to ten forcing the first time-out in the game for PEAC (12th minute 14-24). Zsófi hit a double when the teams came back on court after the short break, to which Udodenko answered back from behind the arc. She kept scoring, and then Bravard also made a double to cut into their team’s deficit. Then Aleks scored five points in quick succession to get us back on track (15th minute 23-33). In the remainder of the quarter PEAC managed to slightly cut into the difference but we were still in the lead after the first half ended (20th minute 29-37).


The third quarter began with an 8-0 run by PEAC which tied the game up, forcing Dávid Gáspár to call a time-out to talk things over with his team (23rd minute 37-37). Tina scored a double off an assist by Zsófi after the short pause, to which Bravard answered back with two successful shots from the foul line. Then Briann stepped on the gas and we performed a great run led by her to pull away from Pécs again (39-47). It didn’t last long, though, PEAC had an answer to it in form of a run of their own cutting their deficit back down to a single point again forcing Dávid Gáspár to cal his team to the bench for a time-out one more time (27th minute 49-50). The talk proved ineffective, Sarok made two foul shots and with that, for the first time after 2-0, Pécs took over the lead at 51-50 with two minutes remaining on the clock. What’s more, they finished the period with a 12-4 run securing their advantage before the final ten minutes (30th minute 61-54).


Fanni Szabó opened the final stage of the game with a double, to which Aleks answered back with a three. Then Wentzel hit a double, followed by another shot from behind the arc by our Serbian small forward (33rd minute 65-60). Bravard put an end to our comeback effort by a shot from downtown, restoring a double-digit lead for the home side. Whatever we tried to do they had an answer to it – when Aleks reduced the gap to four points with a triple, Fanni Szabó came up with a three-point play to match it (36th minute 75-68). Then Zsófi came to the spotlight and put four points on the board reducing the gap to two, and forcing Pécs’s next time-out (37th minute 76-74). The player of the game Aleks hit yet another triple which turned the game our way again with less than a minute left on the game clock (76-77)! The end of the game turned in the hosts’ favor, they made seven free throws in a row to close the game and collect a big victory (40th minute 83-77).

Dávid Gáspár: Congratulations to PEAC! They took advantage of our current situation and created their strategy for the game accordingly. We lost the game in the segment in which we can say we are the strongest. We conceded 54 points in the second half, which didn't characterise us before. This is a feedback for me, yignalling that my players have left the path they were on before. We had many open shot opportunities. We are in a rough stretch, we can't convert these into points. In this regard the team is having some problems, but I hope that we'll get through this as soon as possible and will take these chances with more confidence. Congratulations to PEAC again, they played well and deserved to win!

Aleksandra Crvendakic: It is hard to talk now. I think we have to consider this game as a lesson! Tomorrow in practice we will have to start analysing our mistakes we made. We didn't follow our plan today which led to our defeat. We have to learn from this and then we could start getting back on track. Congratulations to Pécs, they played well!