JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
This is the sixth final match of EBL play offs between Stal Ostrów Wielkopolkoposlki and Zielona Góra.
The beginning of the match was dictated by the Stone, thanks to the players who were hitting from the beginning, Denzel Andersson and Trey Kell threw from good positions and attacked not afraid of rivals, and that in consequence gave them a 10:3 lead. After that Jakub Garbacz threw three-pointer on the board and the scoreboard showed us a big difference, because it was 16:5, mainly thanks to three-pointer from Garbacz. Coach Zan Tabak asked for a timeout, but practically nothing changed. The players from Ostrow were still attacking the frontcourt with a lot of energy and they were scoring points mainly in this way. They also put up a very effective zone defense, which Zielona Góra players could not cope with.
Filip Put. Player, who rarely got a chance to play, quickly scored seven points. Defending champions got as close as nine points to Stali, but the end of the second quarter belonged to Milicic’s team.
Zielona Góra players were helpless at times, they were losing after losing and could not keep up with the actions of their rivals.
They had no ideas in offense and missed from distance. David Brembly returned to the lineup, who twisted his ankle in Monday’s game and could not walk normally a day later. However, he was not able to help the team.
After ten minutes they led 34:13 and it seemed that the fate of the championship was decided.
Zastal in these finals already had a similar situation and they played poorly in the fourth game, the second quarter was lost 12 to 34.
In the second quarter, despite the ambitious pursuit of rivals, the hosts managed to maintain the distance to the end and controlled everything that was happening on the floor and the result on the board showed 51:36
Zilona Góra, however, had more time to make up for the loss and quickly began to do so. After the resumption of the game the defenders recorded a series of 10:0, thanks to two “threes” by Janis Berzins. Stals coach Igor Milicic quickly asked for a timeout as his team slipped out of control of this game.
In the third quarter the lead grew again quite quickly to 20 points after Andersson three-pointer. David Brembly and Rolands Freimanis were trying to compete but Igor Milicic’s team still had the initiative and better efficiency.
Zielona Gora tried to reduce the gap, but rivals kept guarding the safe advantage.
Eventually after Chris Smith free throws after 30 minutes was 72:53.
Zastal seemed to be helpless for most of the fourth quarter but they didn’t lack courage to take advantage of their rivals. Only Geoffrey Groselle found some energy and was unstoppable under the basket. This quarter was interesting but Ostrowians controlled the game.
In 34th minute Freimanis made three-pointer, but Stal is still on 16 point lead and on the way to first Polish championship.
In 35th minute Berzins from the line, but Stal responds by hitting Kell points to make it 82 : 66
Zastal decided to make one more spurt. At 81:87 with a little less than two minutes to go Skyler Bowlin missed behind three. Chances for a successful chase were strongly decreased.
When Trey Kell scored two points (89:81) it was clear that Ostrów Wielkopolski will take the championship. Koszarek and Groselle fought till the end and brought their team even to six points! Kell and Smith did not make a mistake in the crucial moments. Ostrowians won 92:85 and took whole series 4-2.
The MVP of the finals was Jakub Garbacz. He scored 22 points in the last game of the deciding sixth. Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski became Polish Champions of EBL basketball for the first time in history of this club.
Żan Tabak congratulated his rivals and stressed that his team was not able to match up to Stali mainly due to their physicality.
Throughout the final series we were not able to physically adapt to the style in which the team from Ostrow played. That was our biggest problem. Until the middle of the season, to get the Polish Cup, with the different roster we were beating our rivals with our physicality, but after personnel changes it changed, because we lost two of the greatest athletes on the team – Zastal Enea BC Zielona Góra coach Żan Tabak told TVP Sport.
Coach of the new Polish Champions emphasized that the clash with his compatriot made him an even better coach.
I am one hundred percent happy with this championship. I know that we had a “bubble” in Ostrów, but others could also organize it. They didn’t. We won the title on the court, in six games, not like last year, without playing and changing the rules during the games,” concluded the five-time Polish champion
” For sure it is my great success, because I showed that in other circumstances if you take over a team in the middle of the season, change the line-up – you can still win gold. I have great respect for coach Tabak. Thanks to him I am a better coach because he forced me to raise myself as a coach to a higher level, preparing Stal in this final competition ” – Interview with Coach Arged BMSlam Stal Ostrów Wlkp Igor Milicic
Stal Ostrów Wlkp has had a special season, because in addition to the national championship, reached the finals of the FIBA European Cup, where it had to recognize the superiority of the Israeli Ironi Ness Zion.
Arged BMSlam Stal Ostrów Wlkp – Zastal Enea BC Zielona Góra 92:85 (34:13, 17:23, 21:17, 20:32)
BMSlam Stal Ostrów Wlkp: Jakub Garbacz 22, Mark Ogden 16, Josip Sobin 13, James
Play offs: 4-2 for Stal. (to four wins)
Arged BMSlam Stal Ostrów Wlkp.: Jakub Garbacz 22, Mark Ogden 16, Josip Sobin 13, James Florence 13, Trey Kell 11, Chris Smith 8, Denzel Andersson 6, Jarosław Mokros 3.
Zastal Enea BC Zielona Góra: Geoffrey Groselle 22, Janis Berzins 15, Rolands Freimanis 14, Łukasz Koszarek 10, Filip Put 9, David Brembly 7, Skyler Bowlin 5, Kris Richard 3, Cecil
