The hot atmosphere of the basketball night between Helsinki Seagulls and Kauhajoki Karhu Basket in the Töölö competition hall ended with an 84–64 victory for the home team.
Helsinki Seagulls lead the men’s Korisliiga final series 2–0. The third final will be played on Monday in Kauhajoki.
Up until the halftime break, the field was evenly played, but the closer the final buzzer got, the bigger the gap became in favor of the hosts. At halftime, Kauhajoki still led 38–35.
The rebound statistics were evenly distributed until the end, but the Seagulls’ throwing accuracy was significantly better throughout the match.
The leading figure of the Seagulls was once again Rene Rougeauwho poured in 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out six assists and had two steals and two blocks. Lassi Nikkarinen operated in the backcourt worth ten points and seven assists. Zena Edosomwan on the other hand, took care of 12 points and 11 rebounds at the baskets.
The head coach Jussi Laakso commented on the winning game to Ruudu.
– In the second period, we caught the same defensive approach that we had in the last game in Kauhajoki. At the same time, the offensive end opened up a bit, and we had good success playing the basket platform. Kauhajoki changed some of its tactics on the offensive end from the last match, but not so much on defense.
Kauhajoki’s statistical shark was the back man in almost all statistics Henri Kantonenwho scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists.
– The top ten of the shocking fourth episode is on my mind here. We need to move the ball more and attack the basket more strongly. In the first half, we managed to do that, even though we played poorly throughout the match, Kauhajoki’s coach Janne Koskimies comment.
Karhubasket scored only 54 points in the first final and fell short of a modest 64 points in the second.