Awak Kuier was unable to help his team Reyer Venezia to the basketball EuroCup final.
Reyer Venezia, who lost the home opener by one point a week ago, also succumbed to the London Lions 59–71 in the second basketball women’s EuroCup semi-final and fell short of the final by 13 points with a total score of 127–140.
Awak Kuier on Tuesday, in just over 22 minutes, he scored four points and grabbed four rebounds with five shots in the game. In the first part, the Finnish center played almost 32 minutes and was the second most effective player in his team with 12 points.
On Tuesday, Venezia still led a struggle 33–31 at the break and everything looked good at that point.
In the deciding phase of the match, in the third period, Venezia’s head coach Andrea Mazzon kept Kuier in the exchange for a long time with three errors.
With the Finn sitting on the bench, the Italians’ 39–36 lead melted into a 45–57 defeat, and the Londoners secured their place in the finals with a 15-point power play.
Venezia’s most powerful was Jessica Shepard, who poured in 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, but his plus/minus number also showed -14. Kuier was the second player on his team whose plus/minus statistics did not shine in the cold.
BA London Lions had a trio in a big role Megan Gustafson 19/6, Holly Winterburn 17/4/5s and Temi Fagbenle 14/9/4s.
Kuieri did not – at least not yet – become the first Finnish woman to play basketball in the EuroCup final.
It is the second toughest women’s club team competition in Europe, where Venezia has been the losing side in the final three times in recent years.
The second EuroCup semi-final will be played on March 14. Besiktas from Turkey took the opening part with a difference of 21 points to Girona from Spain.