Ukraine – Higher League Round 13: Leader Hoverla loses to Politekhn.Lvov

DmytroKhodov The round was rather attractive and full of interesting results. The round ended with defeat of the leader and favorites losing the games.Top ranked Hoverla (10-2) recorded its second loss in Frankivsk on Sunday night. Hosts were defeated by fourth ranked Politekhn.Lvov (7-5) 83-67. It ended at the same time the ten-game winning streak of Hoverla. The game was mostly controlled by Politekhn.Lvov. Hoverla managed to win third quarter 21-17. But it was not enough to take a lead and get a victory that evening. Politekhn.Lvov forced 20 Hoverla turnovers. They looked well-organized offensively handing out 28 assists. Forward Dmytro Khodov (203-87) fired 24 points for the winners. point guard Andriy Kobets (192-93, agency: AproK Sports Group) chipped in 10 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists and 5 steals. Stanislav Serpilin (194-93) produced 24 points for lost side. Politekhn.Lvov maintains fourth place with 7-5 record. Hoverla at the other side still keeps top position with two games lost. They share it with Azovmash and Krivbas-2. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest. Very important is a road loss of second ranked BC-93 Pulsar (8-4) against fifth ranked Ternopil-TNEU (6-6) on Sunday night. Visiting BC-93 Pulsar was defeated by Ternopil-TNEU in a tough game in Ternopil 75-82. It ended at the same time the seven-game winning streak of BC-93 Pulsar. Worth to mention a great performance of guard Andrij Shapovalov (187-93) who helped to win the game recording 23 points and 6 rebounds. Oleksiy Momotenko contributed with 19 points and 12 rebounds for the winners. Forward Anatoly Dubniuk (202-76) answered with 7 points and 10 rebounds for BC-93 Pulsar. Both coaches used bench players which allowed the starters a little rest for the next games. Ternopil-TNEU maintains fifth place with 6-6 record. Newly promoted BC-93 Pulsar dropped to the third position with four games lost. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest. An exciting game between Top Four teams was played in Lviv. Second ranked Khimik-2 faced 4th placed Politekhn.Lvov. Guests from Yuzhny (9-4) defeated host Politekhn.Lvov (7-5) 91-76. Kyrylo Meshheryakov stepped up and scored 26 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists for the winners. At the losing side Dmytro Khodov responded with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocks. Khimik-2 have a solid series of three victories in a row. They maintain second place with 9-4 record behind leader Hoverla. Loser Politekhn.Lvov keeps the fourth position with five games lost. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest. An exciting game between Top Four teams was played in Dnepropetrovsk. Third ranked Zolotoi Vek faced 4th placed Dnipro-2. Guests from Kirovograd (9-3) smashed host Dnipro-2 (4-8) 104-72. Andriy Kulish nailed a double-double by scoring 27 points, 25 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals for the winning side. Dnipro-2’s coach Oleksandr Muntian gave up on the game allowing to play ten players seeing no chance for a win. Zolotoi Vek have a solid series of four victories in a row. They maintain third place with 9-3 record behind leader Hoverla. Newly promoted Dnipro-2 dropped to the fifth position with eight games lost. Zolotoi Vek’s next round opponent will be league’s leader Azovmash in Mariupol and it will be for sure the game of the week. Dnipro-2 will play at home against Kremen-2 (#7) and it may be a tough game between close rivals. Bottom-ranked KPZO DYUSH (0-11) tried to put together a comeback for its first victory of the season, but they fell short in the 89-63 loss to sixth ranked Ch.Mavpy 2 (2-10) in Cherkasy on Wednesday evening. Yevgen Balaban fired a double-double by scoring 21 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks for the winners. The winner was already known earlier in the game, so both coaches allowed to play the bench players saving starting five for next games. Ch.Mavpy 2 maintains sixth place with 2-10 record, which they share with SumDU and Kremen-2. Newly promoted KPZO DYUSH still closes the standings with 11 games lost. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest. Other games of round 13 were quite predictable and ended without any surprises. Here they are: winless KPZO DYUSH was crushed by Ch.Mavpy 2 in Cherkasy 78-53. Niko-Basket beat Kremen-2 at home 85-70. SumDU lost to Krivbas-2 on the opponent’s court 58-75. The best stats of 13th round was 27 points and 10 rebounds by Artem Kovalov of Khimik-2.Politekhn.Lvov – Khimik-2 76-91An exciting game between Top Four teams was played in Lviv. Second ranked Khimik-2 faced 4th placed Politekhn.Lvov. Guests from Yuzhny (9-4) defeated host Politekhn.Lvov (7-5) 91-76. It was a very close game until the last quarter, when Khimik-2’s pressure prevailed and they won that period 24-15 extending their advantage to 15 points. They looked well-organized offensively handing out 21 assists. Point guard Kyrylo Meshheryakov (184-95) stepped up and scored 26 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists for the winners and forward Artem Kovalov (202-97, agency: Stanislav Ryzhov) chipped in 27 points and 10 rebounds. At the losing side forward Dmytro Khodov (203-87) responded with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 6 blocks and point guard Andriy Kobets (192-93, agency: AproK Sports Group) scored 11 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists. Both teams had four players each who scored in double figures. Khimik-2 have a solid series of three victories in a row. They maintain second place with 9-4 record behind leader Hoverla. Loser Politekhn.Lvov keeps the fourth position with five games lost. Both teams do not play next round, which will be an opportunity for some rest. Top scorers:Khimik-2: A.Kovalov 27+10reb, K.Meshheryakov 26+8reb+8ast, A.Rakhimshaikov 15+6reb, K.Marchenko 11+4reb+5ast, V.Kozak 5+1reb+3ast, D.Klevzunyk 4+2rebPolitekhn.Lvov: D.Khodov 21+9reb+1ast, D.Tiutiunyk 15+4reb+4ast, R.Novikov 14+10reb, A.Kobets 11+6reb+9ast, S.Kuzmenko 6+4reb+1ast, M.Vorobjov 6+5reb+3astgschID: 529500Ch.Mavpy 2 – KPZO DYUSH 89-63Bottom-ranked KPZO DYUSH (0-11) tried to put together a comeback for its first victory of the season, but they fell short in the 89-63 …

continue reading in source www.eurobasket.com