The Donar basketball players also lost their last game of this season in the FIBA Europe Cup on Wednesday evening. Budivelnyk from Kiev was too strong 86-81.
The game was played at the Pallazzetto dello sport Palacoccia in Veroli. The club from Kiev has moved to the Italian resort with the first team because of the war. For the time being, the Ukrainian formation is training and home games there.
The stakes were high for Budivelnyk in the final match in group F. They had to win to secure second place in the group and qualify for the next round. Donar did not win a single game in a European context this season and was already eliminated. For the Groningen basketball players, who acted so laboriously this season, there was nothing else at stake than honour. And it must be said, it was defended with verve in Veroli.
Smooth shot
Donar, which had to miss the injured Willem Brandwijk and started with Leon Williams, Sander Hollanders, Viktor Gaddefors, Ronalds Zakis and Clay Mounce, even took a small lead (25-30) in the first quarter against Budivelnyk, which had a much larger budget. than the Groningen people. At Donar, the shot finally ran a bit smoother than in previous duels and there was no lack of effort either.
The Ukrainians still took control of the game in the second and third quarters, but Donar kept fighting this time and did not – as has often been the case lately – end up in great decline. Especially Clay Mounce gave his business card with 25 points. The small 86-81 defeat finally offered some perspective, especially when the new pointguard Andrej Magdevski joins in later. The floor leader from Macedonia is still waiting for a work permit.