Rene Rougeau vaccinated his former Korisliiga club when the Seagulls claimed a surprisingly clear away victory in the 1st final against Karhu Basket.
In the first final match of the Men’s Basketball League, Seagulls from Helsinki took the home advantage and beat Karhu Basket 70–54 (40–30) in Kauhajoki. The championship ends with four wins. The audience was 2096.
The power man of the winners was the winger in the fourth place Rene Rougeau, who put together versatile powers of 19/9/4s/3r/2t. Rougeau represented Karhu Basket in 2017–19. In the 2018-19 season that ended with Kauhajoki’s championship, Rougeau was also chosen as the foreigner of the year.
Henri Kantonen was Karhu Basket’s best corsair manufacturer, 15/6.
Coach of the Helsinki team Jussi Laakso was happy that the team implemented an almost perfectly prepared defensive game tactic. Karhu Basket had to throw from difficult places and had few successes.
– Very good execution on the defensive end, when the home team fell behind by 54 points, and a large part of them were pretty hard baskets.
Rougeau, who played in Kauhajoki last season and celebrated the championship, was the hero of the Seagulls, also according to the coach’s opinion.
– Fantastic performance from him at both ends of the court. The opponent changed a lot of screens, but Rene was able to train his smaller and younger players near the basket. It was the so-called “post-clinic”. It was great, said Laakso.
Karhu Basket had something to think about
Jeff Carroll paced the Seagulls with 13 points and eight rebounds. Playmaker for winners Lassi Nikkarinen was his team’s third best scorer with a balance of 11/2/5s.
– Really good defensive game from both. Neither attacked particularly well. The opponent switched a lot and we were able to punish well from the inside. Rene played a big role in our corinteo today, praised Nikkarinen.
The Seagulls took the score from under the basket 30–18.
– In the second decade, they made a mess in their own head, Karhu Basket’s head coach Janne Koskimies upset STT.
The second final will be played on Friday in Helsinki. Nikkarinen estimates that the Seagulls need nothing more than to fix some small things in the next match. The package is otherwise well put together.
– Of course we want to repeat this next time, but the opponent will surely come up with something new. They (Karhu Basket) tried a lot of different plays during the match today, but they couldn’t get past our vitose (center), coach Jussi Laakso was happy.
Kauhajoki’s lackluster score was not far from the club’s lowest ever Korisliiga points pot. In 2010, Karhu Basket scored its lowest score against Kouvo – 50 points.
The Seagulls appear in the finals for the first time in their club history. The Seagulls are trying to bring the championship to Helsinki for the first time since 1998, when ToPo lifted the panther statue at the end of the season. Reigning champion Karhu Basket is playing in the finals for the fifth season in a row.