Ventspils Basketball Team Beats Estonian Champions at Home
Ventspils basketball club defeated Estonian champions Tartu University/Maks & Moorits 92:85 at home in a Latvian-Estonian Basketball League match. It was the home team's third game of the season.
Latvian basketball club Ventspils secured a home victory on Friday in the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League (LIBL), defeating Estonian champions Tartu University/Maks & Moorits 92:85. The quarter-by-quarter score was 25:23, 27:32, 20:13 and 20:17.
Top performers
For Ventspils, Kristofers Karlsons led scoring with 17 points and five assists. Artūrs Ausējs added 15 points and eight assists, while Kristens Kasemetss contributed 15 points and six rebounds. Romels Mansels scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
For Tartu, Omar El-Sheikh was the top scorer with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Keith Palek added 17 points and seven rebounds.
Season context
This was Ventspils' third game of the season, bringing their record to 2-1. The team previously lost 76:98 to Valmiera, then defeated the University of Latvia team 108:92 in their second match.
For Tartu University/Maks & Moorits, this was their first loss in three games this season. The Estonian club had previously beaten Tallinn's Bigbank/Kalev 90:63 and defeated Liepāja 87:83 on the road two days earlier.
Eight teams represent Latvia in this season's LIBL, including University of Latvia, Liepāja, Ogre, Rīgas ekselences juniori, Rīgas zeļļi, Valmiera Glass/ViA, Ventspils and VEF Rīga, while seven clubs represent Estonia. The regular season consists of two rounds, after which the top eight teams advance to the quarterfinals. The champion will be decided on April 10, 2027, with the bronze medal match held the day before.
In the joint Latvian-Estonian championship, Ventspils became the league's first-ever champion in the 2019 season, while Valmiera Glass/ViA won the title last season.
