Tartu University forces decider against Riga in basketball quarterfinals

Basketball team Tartu Ülikool Maks & Moorits won their Estonia-Latvia League quarterfinal clash at home to Riga Zeļļi with a 92:84 scoreline.
Since this was the second game of the quarterfinal series, and Riga won the first match, this forces a decider to be played between the two teams.
The turning point came in the final quarter, when the hosts made a decisive run, turning a 73:73 tie into an 82:75 lead within a few minutes. Over the last four minutes, the Latvian club couldn't get closer than four points.
The top scorer of the game was Tartu University's American player Jalen Henry, who finished with 24 points and seven rebounds. Omar El-Sheikh recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Rauno Nurger added 15 points of his own.
Tartu University head coach Aivar Kuusmaa said: "We focused on a couple of key things today. One was not letting them run. In the previous game, Zeļļi just outran us."
"The second was rebounds. In the last game, they had 20 more offensive possessions than we did. It's very hard to win like that," Kuusmaa added.
"Perhaps the most important thing was that we didn't set a single screen in the first game. Now, I have to praise the players for setting screens that freed up the guards. We found the open men and got better shot opportunities," he continued.
Looking ahead to the third game of the series, which will be held in Latvia on Saturday, Kuusmaa added, "Usually, the team that loses starts looking for things to improve. We won today, but I can't say if we'll find anything to do better. We'll definitely stick to the same focuses and go to battle on Saturday."
The overall winner will face BC Kalev/Cramo in the semifinals, after they had eliminated BK Liepaja in their quarterfinals.
The other semifinal will be an all-Latvian affair, with BK Ogre to face the overall winner from VEF Riga or Ventspils.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Henrik Laever