<p>Ventspils proved its superiority over the Kalev/Cramo. The Latvian champions defeated the Estonian champions 79:72 to advance to the SEB BBL Final 4. It will be Ventspils’ third straight Final 4 appearance.</p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br />Wow, what a game. After the incredible buzzer-beater win at home 75:74 (<a href="/index.php/ZnVzZWFjdGlvbj1hcnRpY2xlcy52aWV3JmlkPTc5MDM=">check out our recap</a>) Kalev/Cramo were in a slightly better position to advance further to the Final Four of the SEB BBL season. On the other hand, a one-point advantage meant practically nothing; Ventspils has always been regarded as one of the best home teams in SEB BBL, and there were practically no doubts about their motivation after the unsuccessful season in European cups. As the last Estonian team in the competition, Kalev/Cramo were also ready to do all they can to participate in the Final Four in <city w:st="on" /><place w:st="on" />Riga</place /></city /> on April 20-21. Ventspils had a notable loss in their roster: Cipruss did not take part due to an injury.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" /><p> </p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">The hosts Ventspils were obviously fired up in the first quarter. Jelic showed some muscle in the paint. Backed up with another big man Helmanis, he ensured an early lead 9:2. The game of the home team seemed to go incredibly smoothly. After few fashy combinations at the offensive end, the lead started to look depressing for the guests from North 18:9. Keerles and Reed had problems with delivering, while Ventspils’ offensive triangle Love-Shannon-Jelic showed no sympathy and increased the gap to devastating 28:13 after the first quarter.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" /><p> </p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Both teams remained ‘dry’ for the first two minutes of the second quarter. Only in the third minute Reed, the hero of the second quarter opened the score with a lay-up. This was the start of a streak that completely changed the nature of the contest. Kalev/Cramo rallied on a 8-0 run, closing up in the score 28:22. The main reason for the sudden break was a switch to the zone defense of the guest team. In addition, Karlis Muiznieks, the head coach of Ventspils, substituted nicely-playing Jelic. This opened the gates for Reed’s actions, since other Ventspils big men were no match to his fast spin moves. Even after Jelic stepped on hardwood once again, it was extremely hard to stop the inspired guests. Kriisa was great in traffic and from behind the arc; this, compounded with Reed’s effort, allowed Kalev/Cramo to close up 30:27. In the end of the first half, Reed put the cherry on the top with a strong dunk – 35:35.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" /><p> </p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">The momentum was on their side, and Kalev/Cramo commenced to crash Ventspils’ resistance. Reed and Johnson united forces to ensure a reasonable lead 40:46. Further success ignited a feast in the rows of Estonian spectators, who started to think that their squad will advance to the next round at the score of 43:50. That was too fast. Ventspils succeeded in regaining their focus and it was a completely different game. The last three minutes will appear in the nightmares of the Estonian players. Hosts started hitting their looks, guests started piling turnovers. A 12-1 end of the quarter for Ventspils did not ensure anything, but that was a good start.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" /><p> </p><p /><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Ventspils completely eradicated any doubts about the winner of the series in the last quarter. They were capable of maintaining their momentum and increasing the advantage to a 72:59. Although Kalev/Cramo hit two consecutive three-pointers to close up 72:67, Ventspils, inspired by good contribution by Veselovs, did not have any problems in dealing with the peril. 79:72 win the game and a six-point advantage in the series ensured that Ventspils advance to the Final Four of the SEB BBL season.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" /><p> </p><br />The Latvians were led by veteran Uvis Helmanis who scored 17 points. Also, three other Ventspils players scored in double digits while two more had 9 points each. Meantime, Kalev/Cramo once again relied on Travis Reed. He answered the call with yet another spectacular performance (30 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists) but other players, except Valmo Kriisa (16 points) did not contribute much.<p /><p><strong><font color="#996600"></font></strong></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /><strong>Top Scorers:</strong></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><a href="/index.php/ZnVzZWFjdGlvbj10ZWFtcy5tYWluJnQ9NTg="><b>Ventspils</b></a>: <a href="/index.php/ZnVzZWFjdGlvbj1wbGF5ZXJzLm1haW4mdD01OCZwPTY3NQ==">Uvis Helmanis (17)</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><a href="/index.php/ZnVzZWFjdGlvbj10ZWFtcy5tYWluJnQ9NTM="><b>Kalev/Cramo</b></a>: <a href="/index.php/ZnVzZWFjdGlvbj1wbGF5ZXJzLm1haW4mdD01MyZwPTY5NQ==">Travis Reed (30)</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify" /><p> </p><br /><strong><font color="#996600">GAME NOTES:</font></strong><p /><p /><p>Hero of Wednesday’s game Kendrick Johnson finished the game with 7 points. He was 1 for 8 from the 3-point line… During this game the sum of 5000 Euros was passed in the <a href="/index.php/ZnVzZWFjdGlvbj10cmlwbGUudmlldw=="><strong>SEB Triple Effect</strong></a> campaign. With 4:10 to play in the third quarter Aigars Vitols made a 3-point shot (43:46), which earned the five thousandth Euro...</p>

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Teams: Kalev/Cramo
Teams: Ventspils
Games: 2007-04-07 Ventspils - Kalev/Cramo