Prometey extends winning streak by beating Cluj, 87-96

Prometey Slobozhanske extended its winning streak to 10 games with an 87-96 victory over U-BT Cluj-Napoca at Bt-Arena on Wednesday. The visitors led for the majority of the game, but Cluj bounced back and even grabbed a narrow lead in the last quarter, only for Prometey to respond with a 10-0 run that helped it secure the win. The Group A leaders improved to 13-4 and the already-eliminated Cluj dropped to 5-12.
Caleb Agada led the winning side with 21 points in addition to 5 rebounds and 8 drawn fouls to his name for a PIR of 25. Another four Prometey players registered double-digits in scoring: DJ Kennedy scored 15, Gian Clavell and DJ Stephens added 12 each and Denis Lukashov 11. Emanuel Cate scored 17 points for Cluj, with Andrija Stipanovic and Nemanja Gordic finishing the game with 14 and 12, respectively.
Prometey got off to a strong start, as Denys Lukashov sank 2 triples, with Agada and Stephens scoring 2 free throws apiece to give the visitors an early 0-10 lead. Cluj head coach Mihai Silvasan was forced to call a timeout, but Kennedy extended Prometey’s run to 0-13 following the short break. After being held scoreless for 3 and a half minutes, Cluj netted its first points through Leonardo Meindl, who nailed a three-pointer, 3-13. Jalen Jones detonated a dunk in transition, with Meindl scoring a second triple and Andrija Stipanovic netting 4 points to reduce the deficit to 16-19. Yet, Cluj struggled on defense and trailed 22-28 after 10 minutes.
What followed was a one-man-show from Clavell, who scored 11 points in the second quarter to help his team maintain its lead. Cate took his tally to 11 points too, but Prometey was extraordinary in attack and secured a 46-51 lead heading into halftime.
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Meindl scored his third three-pointer of the night to help Cluj stay close after the break, 49-51, but Kennedy, Stephens and Agada responded to push the advantage back to double digits, 53-63. That’s when Stipanovic came to the fore, scoring 8 back-to-back points to give Cluj a chance to stay in the game, as the hosts reduced the deficit to just 70-72 at the end of the third quarter.
Stefan Bircevic scored from behind the arc to complete Cluj’s comeback, 73-72, seconds into the fourth quarter and Nemanja Gordic sank a pair of three-pointers to help the hosts maintain the lead, 81-78. Kennedy and Ivan Tkachenko came off the bench to provide the visitors a much-needed boost, with the former netting 2 free-throws and the latter nailing one from downtown to inspire Prometey to a 5-0 run. The visitors extended their run to 10-0 for an 83-91 lead to practically put the game to bed with less than 2 minutes to go, as Cluj managed to score just 4 points in the last 6 minutes.