JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
A lot happened in the Suzuki Cup of Poland Tournament in Lublin and we did not lack emotions and fights and struggles for exactly four days in the Globus Hall in Lublin. Eventually, the winner of the Suzuki Cup of Poland was Enea Zastal Zielona Góra, who in the final defeated PGE Spójnie Stargard 86:73.
Zielona Góra were unrivalled in this tournament of the Suzuki Cup of Poland. On Sunday they won for the third time in the Globus hall in Lublin and won their first national trophy this year. They previously won in 2015 and 2017.
I would like to remind our readers , that the last four years the Polish Cup was held in Warsaw’s “Ursynów” hall. Now the teams played it in Lublin.
What was an interesting big surprise in this year’s Cup was missing the winner from the previous season Anwil Wloclawek.
After less than 30 seconds of first quarter game first points scored Blake Reynolds and after two successful actions of Gabriel Lundberg and Zastal was already leading 6:1. Spójnia started to make up for the loss with three-pointers. In the 5th minute Raymond Cowels unexpectedly gave his team 12:9 lead. Three minutes later rivals were better by six points (18:12). First quarter ended with Zielona Góra winning by 24:16.
Zastal dominated and forced their rivals to make mistakes, they fought under the baskets, scored and intercepted bad passes from Spójnia. Rivals defended themselves and tried to throw to the basket from different positions like two consecutive threes by Filip Matczak but Zastal was controlling the game and step by step was getting away. After Rolands Freimanis three and more shots the score was on the board till the end of the quarter 48:31 for Zielona Gora.
Third quarter started interestingly and there was a lot of fight. Stargard quickly exceeded the limit of five fouls and after each mistake Cohesion was punished with free throws. Although Stargard were losing 32 to 50 in the third quarter they didn’t give up the fight. They defended well, but they couldn’t translate that defense into successful offense, which coach Marek Lukomski paid attention to during every break. After Baylee Steele and Jay Threatt’s basket PGE cut the deficit to eight points. Gudula was hitting but the difference was significant but only 53:45. It meant that rival made up nine points in couple of minutes. Coach Żan Tabak took a timeout and his team regained control of the game. Zastal responded in a flash with long distance shots from captain Lukasz Koszarek and Freimanis and Lundberg’s counterattacks gave the lead again. Freimanis hit one more three-pointer. After his three-pointer before the fourth quarter Zielona Góra won by 13 points (64:51).
In the last quarter Zielona Gora controlled the situation on the floor and Lundberg showed off his skills. Even after that if the rival was able to make up some points they quickly rebounded. It got a little hot after Jay Threatt three-pointer in 37 min because there was only difference of six points, it was 77:69. Right after that Zielona Gora attacked again and from behind the 6.75 line Łukasz Koszarek threw a beautiful three-pointer and after a moment Lundberg repeated it with Kris Richard and Enea Zastal Zielona Góra dominated. They scored later still important points and Zielona Gora in the important moments kept cold blood to the end of the meeting, defenders from Stargard were just around Centers or players with positions 4 and 3 and still Zastal led after such actions and the result was 80:69 . At 93 seconds before the end of the game when the scoreboard was 83:71 Cohesion was still trying to reduce the score and threw for three points. . In the end they didn’t do much and the match ended with winning 86:73 for Zastal Enea BC Zielona Góra. MVP of the whole final in the tournament for SUZUKI Cup of Poland received a player Gabriel Lundberg from Enea Zastal BC Zielona Góra. Additional attractions were organized at the basketball tournament such as LOTTO Slum Dunk competition and won by Jan Wójcik son of Adam Wójcik who plays in WKS Śląsk Wrocław and additionally there was a competition Aerowatch throws for three points which was won by Martins Laksa from team Pszczółki Startu Lublin .
Gabriel Lundberg leaves Enea Zastal BC Zielona Góra because he already signed a contract with basketball giant CSKA Moscow
LOTTO Slum Dunk competition and won by Jan Wójcik who plays in WKS Śląsk Wrocław
additionally there was a competition Aerowatch throws for three points which was won by Martins Laksa from team Pszczółki Startu Lublin .
MVP of the whole final in the tournament for SUZUKI Cup of Poland received a player Gabriel Lundberg
Thursday 11 February, quarterfinals:
Zastal Enea BC Zielona Góra – Asseco Arka Gdynia 90:68
Pszczółka Start Lublin – Arged BMSlam Stal Ostrów Wlkp. 80:73
Friday, February 12, quarterfinals:
Trefl Sopot – Legia Warszawa 92:56
WKS Śląsk Wrocław – PGE Spójnia Stargard 73:92
Saturday, February 13, semi-finals:
Zastal Enea BC – Arged BMSlam Stal105 : 85
Tref Sopot – PGE Spójnia Stargard 73:84
Sunday, February 14, finals:
Enea Zastal BC Zielona Góra – PGE Spójnia Stargard 86:73 (24:16, 24:15, 16:20, 22:22.)
Enea Zastal BC: Lundberg 21 (4), Richard 15 (3), Groselle 15, Berzins 6, Reynolds 2 i Freimanis 20 (4), Koszarek 7 (1), Put.
PGE Spójnia: Steele 16 (2), Cowels 14 (2), Threatt 13 (3), Faust 9 (1), Kostrzewski 8 i Matczak 6 (2), Gudul 5, Młynarski 2, Han.
