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Photo: S. Čirba
Photo S. Čirba
In Division B of the Regional Basketball League (TOPsport-RKL), 6 of 8 teams are clear, which will compete in the quarterfinals to enter the four finalists. At the time, Division A teams are still fighting for higher spots in the regular season.
In the quarterfinals of Division B, only 2 unknowns
Already aiIt is a pride that the Vilnius basketball players “Ryto-MRU-VKM” and Kazlų Rūda SC “Ataka” compete against each other for the ticket to the final of Division B. In the final eighth series, Vilnius residents led by Gintautas Regina made it 2-0 with Pakruojis SC “Lygumai-ŽŪB”.
By the way, beating Pakruojis SC, Rytas-MRU-VKM repeated his best performance in the playoffs, when in 2015-2016. the Top 8 stage was also reached. At that time, the Kazlų Rūda team led by Tomas Bietkis defeated the Gargždų-2 team 2-0 with a similar result.
Lukas Pipir’s Radviliškis ŠSPC basketball players, who beat Kaišiadorys “Savingė” 2-0, surely also entered the next stage. Radviliškis’s opponent will be revealed next week, when the relationship is fully clarified by Elmis from Anykščiai and VKKM-Neptūnas from Klaipėda.
In the first match of the series, Anykšėnai coached by Ramūnas Šližis defeated the port city team 80:62, but in Klaipėda the coastal basketball players coached by Gytis Krugelevičius won 72:68 and restored balance in the series – 1 -1. The decisive matches of the series will take place in Anykščiai.
In the quarter-finals, Jurbarkas, who actually won the TOPsport Cup a week ago, defeated Raseiniai KKSC 2-0 in the eighth final without major problems.
The contestant of “Jurbarkas” in the quarterfinals became Kuršėnai district. Count’s furniture. The students of Paulius Ščipokas defeated Alytus SRC “Dzūkija” in the series 2-0. It is interesting that in this series a 2-1 victory was predicted for the Dzuks, and already in the first match the Kuršėnai basketball players at Alytus 84:83 managed to throw the victory against Alytus by one point. In the second match in Kuršėnai, the hosts no longer allowed their victory to be doubted and defeated the Alytus team by 100: 69.
Šiauliai “Saulė-SG” will also apply for a ticket to the final four of TOPsport-RKL Division B. Tomas Kutra’s students beat Jonava’s Cbet-2 2-0 in the eighth final.
The youth competitor from Šiauliai will decide in the quarter-finals of the series “Žalgiris-3” and “Kupiškis” from Kaunas. The series has yet to start and will take place next week, as some members of the Žalgiris-3 team participated in the Euroleague youth tournament in Istanbul this weekend.
Considering the performances of “Žalgiris-3” and “Kupiškis” in the regular season, there is a high probability that we will see a persistent and highly intriguing forehand from the youngsters of Šiauliai and Kaunas in the quarterfinals.
It is interesting that after the Kaunas and Klaipėda teams won their own series, in the quarterfinals we will even see four youth teams from the LKL club system: “Rytas-MRU-VKM”, “Saulę-SG”, “VKKM- Neptūnas “and” Žalgiris-3 “.
Up to 2 victories will be fought in the quarterfinals, as well as in the final eighth stage.
Division A will decide the winner of the regular season.
At that time, the teams of TOPsport – RKL Division A are fighting fiercely for their final positions in the regular season. It is already clear that Panevėžys “Bangenė-Aivera” (4-24) will not play from last place in Division B next season.
LSU’s penultimate athlete (7-20) is also currently in the red zone, where teams after the regular season will be forced out of the elite division for at least a year.
It is true that Edo Nickus students are still struggling hard to survive. The future of this team will largely depend on next week, when LSU-Athlete will play the remaining 3 games of the regular season.
LSU-Athletes will play the aforementioned Bangene, Raseiniai and Akmenė r. Patriots-Cement. Under favorable circumstances, Nickus’ troop may even rank 12th and make the playoffs, but this requires not only winning it all for themselves, but also expecting favorable results from other arenas.
At worst, even after winning all 3 wins, they may not be enough to stay in Division A. LCC International University also swings in the red zone (7-18). Compared to LSU-Athlete, Marius Tamolis students have 2 matches in reserve. However, LCC’s remaining competitors also appear threatening: Patriots-Cement, Kretinga, Tauragė, Kėdainiai SC Ateitis and the Kaunas district. Omega.
Olimpas of Ukmergė (9-19) and CBet-KKSC of Prienai (9-18) cannot feel completely reassured about surviving in Division A. In short, up to 5 teams are battling for the last playoff berth: the already mentioned teams Ukmergė, Prienai, LSU-Atleto, LCC and KTU (11-17). The latter team can already rest assured that they will be able to play again in Division A next year.
Probably the best chance to make the biggest jump on the tournament table is Omega (13-12). Currently, the team led by Tadas Klimavičius is in 10th place, but will play 5 more times and, if circumstances allow, can move up to 5th place.
The fourth-place question will be decided next week, providing an opportunity to avoid the eighth final and the playoffs to start from the quarter-final stage. Vilnius “Rivile” and “Kretinga” have secured this right for a long time, and “Raseiniai” (20-8) joined these teams at the weekend, which still have 2 games left, but will remain in any case. in third place.
Olimpas de Plungė (19-11) and Tauragė (18-10), who have played all their games in the regular season, take fourth place. The Šarūnas Zablockis students have a great chance of relegation to the strongest four, as Tauragė will play the last two matches with the Bangenė and LCC teams at the bottom of the tournament table.
Tauragė (18-10) and Plungė Olimpas (19-11) will play in the remaining weeks due to their place in the big four, providing an opportunity to save energy and avoid the final eighth stage. It is true that the win-loss ratio of the latter team will not change for sure, as Alido Žukauskas’s players have already played all 30 games of the regular season. Plunge can only hope that Tauragė cannot win victories against the teams at the bottom of the rankings.
The question of the winner of the regular season will also be decided on the last weekend of March. Vilnius Rivile (23-5) is currently in first place, who will play Biržai KKSC (15-14) and Kėdainiai (15-12) next weekend. Mindaugas Noreika students are the masters of their own destiny: after winning both games, they would become the regular season winners.
Kretinga (22-6), who was in second place at the time, will end his regular season performance with a duel with LCC and Omega this coming weekend. The most realistic success scenario for the Arimantas Mikaločius students, who want to win the regular season, is to win the remaining two games and expect at least one failure from Riviles. If Rivile and Kretinga have the same win-loss ratio at the end of the regular season, Kretinga will rank first as it has a one-game advantage.
The regular season of TOPsport – RKL Division A will end on April 2.
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