Our basketball team got into the final four with a double victory

Közgáz – ELTE-BEAC 82-68 (21-20, 21-17, 18-17, 22-14) 

Kinizsi u., 50 spectators. Referee: Cs. Horváth, Nepp.  

Közgáz: Szántó 7/3, Limpek 1, Pfandler 8, Galambos 17/9, Úr 13. Substitution: D. Papp, 5/3, Á. Bartha 21/15, Kutrovich 4, Jenei 4, Grilli 2, Csepregi, Fóti. Acting Coach: László Kováts 

ELTE-BEAC: J. Nagy 11/6, M. Sipos 13/9, B. Szabó 4, Ipacs 13, Morauvszki 11. Substitution: Antal 4, Orczi 2, Baroch 3/3, I. Szabó I. 5/3, Szász 2, Sipos B. Coach: Zoltán Csányi 

Although Közgáz basically decided the qualification for the final already in the first game it won by 26 points, the large number of spectators saw a very committed, motivated, and fighting ELTE-BEAC. At the beginning, the home team was not really able to handle their inconvenient zone. Finally, ELTE-BEAC, under the leadership of Morauvszki – who scored 11 points, closed with 15 rebound double-doubles, and was excellent in ‘air defence’, too – and Joel Nagy were leading by 7 points. Közgáz players gradually found themselves and accepted the challenge, i.e. adopted the militant style of the guests. Under the leadership of Mátyás Úr, they cut down their handicap bit by bit, and at the end of the quarter, they were in leading position with the triple of Dominik Papp.  

The second phase started with lots of running, but with lots of fouls, too, on both sides. The teams were neck and neck, the guests were efficient with clever and brave penetrations by Márton Sípos, and in the home team, Ákos Bartha achieved ‘board-banging’ triples.  Similarly to the first phase, the end of the second phase was won by the home team, who were leading by 5 points at half time.  

After swapping courts, the formula was that Közgáz, cleverly managed by Dániel Szántó, was leading by 8-10 points, but ELTE-BEAC punished the smallest inaccuracies of the home team with fast breaks, and they caught up owing to Nagy and Donát Ipacs, who shot inaccurately from longer distance, but was efficient from short distance. What is more, in the middle of the closing phase, when Sípos pulled himself together again, ELTE-BEAC had an advantage. Then, however, came Árpád Galambos, and from 3 home actions, he scored a double between two triples, i.e. scored 8 points in a row, breaking the resistance of the guests, and, although the end was 14 points, the strongly fighting ELTE-BEAC made the life of the winner of the Western group rather difficult.   

Acting Coach, László Kováts: ‘I think that the result of the first game influenced our play and our concentration to some extent. We played a lot in a line-up we never tried before, so that the guys get used to each other before the final four. All the players played, we rotated the team a lot, and now we are looking forward to the draw.’ 

Zoltán Csányi: ‘For thirty-six minutes, we held on very well, this result is absolutely acceptable, we played much better than in the first game. Congratulations to Közgáz, and I wish them well in the final four. 

Qualified: Közgáz with a double victory