Dmitriev Lifts BC Triumph At The Death

Fedor Dmitriev nailed a pair of clutch free throws with two seconds left as BC Triumph Lyubertsy edged a 76-75 win over EclipseJet MyGuide Amsterdam by the narrowest of margins in EuroChallenge Top 16 play on Tuesday night.
Unbeaten BC Triumph started as firm favourites on their home floor and were looking good for the win, up 60-50 early in the fourth quarter. Their advantage stood at seven, 73-66, with under two minutes to go, and it was then that Amsterdam got to work on their fightback.
Avis Wyatt split a pair of free throws before Orien Greene dunked. As the clock clicked under one minute, Teddy Gipson hit a pair of free throws before Wyatt's lay-up tied the game at 73 with 47 seconds left.
Marcus Goree went to the line for BC but only made one, and Amsterdam then led, 75-74, on Greene's lay-up 15 seconds from time. BC Triumph drew up one final play, and Dmitriev forced Greene into a foul with two seconds left, giving BC the chance to win it from the charity stripe and move to 4-0 in Group L.
Goree led BC Triumph with 21 points, while Dmitriev had 11 and Sergey Toporov 10. Wyatt led Amsterdam's efforts with 15 points, while Gipson had 12 and Victor Thomas and Greene 11 each. Amsterdam drop to 2-2.

Stanislav Eremin, Head Coach (BC Triumph):
"Today was a very hard game. We were playing good defense and offense in the first period, but the second game part especially the last minutes of the game were decisible. And I'm very glad that Dmitriev made good shots and brought us a victory."

Arie Shivek, Head Coach (Eclipsejet Myguide):
"I'm sad that we lost. We practiced very seriously for this game and were very close to win. If we would have won tonight, we could think about the second place in the group. But now, in this situation, we have to win our next games - for example, against Dexia. I hope we will be lucky."

Valery Likhodey, Player (BC Triumph):
"We are very happy that we won today. The last minutes were very hard and nervous. But Dmitriev made the last shots and we made the fourth victory in the TOP16. It is a good result and now we will start to prepare for the next games in the league and EuroChallenge."

Stefan Wessels, Player (Eclipsejet Myguide):
"We are upset after this game. We had a chance to win, but it didn't happen. Today BC Triumph was stronger and deserved this win. They did all for the victory and were more lucky."

25 february 2009