Jaunumi

First tour of IABL 2014-2015 season was organised in Minsk (Belarus)

 Belarus and Russia teams have played the opening game of the tour. Local team were favourites. However, a bit unexpectedly Russia’s team controlled the game and won the game 87:69. Top scorer in the winning team was Andrej Mahlin (23 points). For the losing team Maksim Radčuk scored 11 points.

Last season Grand Final replay was played in the second game – Ukraine’s team faced Kaunas Basketball League team. The champions of 2013/2014 season, this year significantly improved, didn’t leave a chance for Kaunas team that has performed poorly and won the game 88:63. Anton Černogor and Artium Lutak score 12 points each for the winning team, while Jonas Ročka scored 17 points for Kaunas’ team.

Vilnius faced Latvia’s amateur team in the third game. Lithuanians dominated in the game and beat neighbours easily 103:66. Henrikas Šliogeris was top scorer of the game with 23 points. Aivars Svirido scored 19 points for the Latvians.

Next game was one of the most interesting in this tour where Ukrainians faced Russia’s challenge. The game was neck-a-neck for most of the game. However, Ukranians took over in the last period and won 73:64. Aleksej Potarickyj scored 19 points for the winners, Nikolaj Šangyčev added 15 points for Russia’s team.

Kaunas played against “braliukai” Latvians in the second to last game of the tour. It was another close game where Latvians took over in the second half and got their first win of the year 69:76, leaving Kaunas winless. Latvians top scorer was Aivars Svirido with 27 points, while Jonas Pacevičius led Kaunas’ team with 19 points.

In the last game of the tour, local Belarus team was well supported by the fans. They had not been disappointed as their team has beaten Lithuanians from Vilnius 84:60. Spartak Pogrebniov led his team for the win with 17 points, while Vaidas Bendikas was the top scorer in his team with 17 points as well.

After the first tour Ukrainians are on the top of the league with two wins out of two. Straight after them are four teams with one win each and in the bottom of the league, a bit unexpectedly, is Kaunas.

The best players were awarded in the closing ceremony of the first tour.

Four more tours are coming up. Therefore, the season is highly unpredictable. It is certain that the championship is going to be very interesting.

The next tour is held in Kaunas A. Sabonis KC on December 13th where six more games will be played.