Helsinki Seagulls has advanced to the men’s basketball championship finals. In the seventh semi-final game of Korisliiga, the Seagulls defeated Karhu Basket from the bucket hockey team 100-91 on their home field and continue to the finals with a 4-3 win.
Helsinki Seagulls will be able to aim for a second consecutive championship in the men’s Korisliiga, when they advanced from the semi-finals on Saturday to the finals starting next Wednesday.
Of course, the defending champion’s place in the finals was behind hard work, when the semi-final series against Kauhajoki Karhu Basket was only decided in the seventh game with a 100–91 home win for the Seagulls. The special feature of the semifinal series was that the first four encounters ended with away wins.
– It was a match worth a stoppage. Both teams played great today. When Lake Okko and Shavon Coleman both hit, then it’s really hard for us to defend. It has been a real pleasure and privilege to be involved in this semi-final series. This has been a high-quality series and a wonderful example of Finnish basketball at its best, praised the Seagulls’ coach Vesa Vertio.
Järvi hit eight threes and a total of 29 points for the Seagulls, Coleman five threes and 24 points. Strangers Samuel Givens scored 25 points.
The Seagulls, who won the semifinals 4–3, will face the winner of the semifinal series BC Nokia–Joensuun Kataja Basket in the final matches. This match series will not be decided until the seventh game on Sunday at Nokia.
For the first time in its history, Karhu Basket, with its glorious finals history, missed the SC bronze game. In 2018-23, Karhu reached the finals five times in a row, and won three gold and two silver medals. In the spring of 2020, the playoffs were not played because of the corona virus.
– First of all, I want to congratulate the Seagulls. Second straight season they beat us. We couldn’t raise the intensity in the big picture in our favor. We had some basic mistakes in defense today and they got too easy chances to be a stalemate. We improved a lot from our quarter-final series defensively, but their execution was still better than ours, away coach Janne Koskimies confessed.
On Saturday, the Seagulls, who led the game the whole time after the first few minutes, gained a 13-point lead in the first half with long throws, after hitting ten threes by halftime. When Karhu Basket couldn’t get a proper run at any point, the Seagulls easily controlled the game.
At the end of the match, Seagulls hero Järvi and Timo Heinonen and Karhu Basket Nathaniel Pollard Jr, Topias Palmi and Leave Innamaa were sidelined due to the error account being filled.