BK Žabiny Brno and new-arrival Kateřina Zohnová
Brno, Feb. 6 (BD) — egoé Basket Brno starts Group A1 tonight by hosting Pardubice at 8 p.m., Kometa rests up for stretch run and the Brno sports schedule.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Powerhouse Brno Teams Square Off
For the first time this season, Žabiny Brno and KP Brno will finally meet. The game is in Žabovřesky and starts at 6 p.m. and the arena will, no doubt, be energized by the cross-town rivalry that always seems to produce dramatic games.
KP Brno is 11-3 and in second place in the ZBL. Žabiny Brno is 10-4 and in third.
If you can’t make it to the arena, click here to watch the game online.
Both teams have recently brought in players to deal with injury problems and reinforce their teams for the remainder of the season. Žabiny Brno added Kateřina Zohnová, a member of the Czech national team at the 2012 London Olympics. KP Brno added Reem Moussa, a 24-year-old Egyptian American, and Czech international Lenka Bartáková, who also played on the Olympic Team.
Žabiny Brno
The next game will be in Sweden next Wednesday with a berth for the EWBL Final Final Four on the line. The team with the best combined score advances, so Žabiny Brno have a significant advantage.
KP Brno is also winning games. They most recently visited SBŠ Ostrava on Sunday and won 57-86. Edita Šujanová led the way with 17. Michaela Stará added 13 and Jasmine Gill had 10. Bartáková had 12 and another new player Sabína Oroszová contributed 11.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Group A1 Starts Immediately: Brno Hosts Pardubice Tonight
After two uncharacteristically low-scoring games, Davell Roby led egoé Basket Brno past Kingspan Královští sokoli, 89-77, on Saturday and into the top group of the Koopertiva NBL for the remainder of the season.
Brno (8-14) is in Group A1 for the first time since they entered the league six years ago.
Their first Group A1 game is tonight when BK JIP Pardubice comes to town. Tip off is at 8 p.m.
Group A1 guarantees that Brno will stay in the Kooperativa NBL next season and it will provide a competitive schedule, with home and away games against the seven teams above them in the standings. Only three of Brno’s eight wins were against these top teams during the first part of season.
“Nothing is finished,” said Brno head coach Christianos Chougkaz. “We just have the chance for the first time to play (in Group A1) against the best teams in the league. I know that this is the best position for our club. We will continue to fight.”
Nothing is ever easy in the top men’s league of the country, however, and Brno had to overcome nerves to win for their home-court fans on Saturday against Královští sokoli. At halftime, Brno was down 32-42, to the team that had beat them in Hradec Kralove on Nov. 21.
“We started the game with more pressure on us,” Chougkaz said, “then we had a very good second half. We played good defense (and we were able to) take the energy from our defense and get confidence for our offense.”
Brno outscored Královští sokoli, 27-13, in the third quarter but the visiting team remained within striking distance.
The turning point was with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter when it was a one-point game. Suddenly, as Roby jumped for the hoop, Deremy Gieger passed the ball in from the baseline for a quick-tip basket. Then, on four consecutive trips down the court, Brno scored: a 3-pointer by Geiger; a 3-pointer by Roby; a pull-up jumper by Roby in the key; and another pull-up jumper by Roby from just to the right of the key. Královští sokoli was forced to call a time out and Brno was able to maintain their advantage through to the end of the game.
Roby, who had had back-to-back five-point games, scored 24 points against Královští sokoli (3-19). Deremy Geiger had 19 and Reggie Keely added 15.
Making it to Group A1 was a major accomplishment for a team that has regularly struggled. Chougkaz made sure to compliment Dejan Jakara, the coach that he replaced mid-way through the season, and added: “I want to say a big bravo to all of the people who work for this team and of course to my team: They are really great guys and good players and they have a good future.”
The top six teams from Group A1 advance directly into the Play-offs. The seventh- and eighth-place teams play the top two teams from the lower, four-team Group A2 in an extra step to earn their way into the main Play-off bracket.
HOCKEY
Kometa Rest For Final Push Towards Postseason
HC Kometa lost at Plzeň, 5-2, on Friday but entered the current international break with a good shot at returning to the postseason to defend their back-to-back titles.
The Kometa regular season resumes with at Mlada Boleslav on Feb. 13. The game will be on ČT Sport at 5:20 p.m.
Kometa is sixth in the Tipsport extraliga. In 42 games, they have a slightly better than .500 winning percentage, with 18 outright wings and five extra-time wins balanced against four extra-time losses and 15 outright losses. They have scored 124 goals against 115 that they have allowed.
Brno’s 68 points are 14 behind league-leaders Liberec (82 points). Třinec (78 points), Hradec Králové (75), Plzeň (74) and Vítkovice (72) are also ahead in the standings, although the number of games played are uneven.
After Mlada Boleslav, Kometa will play a game roughly every two to three days until end of the season on March 8. The big games on the schedule are at Oceláři Třinec on Feb 17; at home against Mountfield Hradec Kralove on Feb. 19; at Litvínov on Feb. 24 (on ČT Sport); at home against Vítkovice on March 1; and at Liberec on March 3
The season ends with two rivalry games: at home against Sparta on March 5 and at Zlín on March 8.
The playoffs include several levels. In the pre-playoff series, the seventh- and 10th-place teams and the eighth- and ninth-place teams play loser-out best-of-five series to move into the main Playoff Bracket.
In the best-of-seven quarterfinals (March 18 to 31), the lowest-seeded team from pre-playoff series plays the regular-season winner and the higher seeded team from the pre-playoff series plays the regular-season runner up. Also, the third- and sixth-place regular season teams and the fourth- and fifth-place regular-season teams play quarterfinal series.
The semifinals are best-of-seven and will be held from April 3 to 15. The best-of-seven finals will be from April 18 to 30.
Kometa, who caught fire in the last two postseasons, have three leading offensive players: Petr Holík has 13 goals and 32 assists for a team-high 45 points. American Peter Mueller has a team-leading 22 goals and 20 assists for 42 points. Martin Zaťovič has 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points.
Defenders Ondřej Němec (3+23 for 26 points) and Jan Štencel (6+15 for 21 points) are the only other players with more than 20 points.
Martin Erat, a veteran who started late in the season to save his legs for the postseason, has about a point per game: 3 goals and 14 assists in 13 games.
Karel Vejmelka, a 22-year-old, has handled most of the goalkeeping duties, with 29 starts.
Last week, the team announced that Marek Čiliak, who had started this season in the KHL, is back with the Kometa. Čiliak started as a youth in the Kometa system in 2005 and he was the team’s main goalkeeper from the 2013 season through the back-to-back championship seasons.
BRNO SPORTS RESULTS
Quick results for various Brno professional and recreational sports for the past week. Home team listed first (when applicable).
Friday, Feb. 1, 2019
— Hockey: Plzeň 5, Kometa 2
Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019
— Women’s Basketball: Sokol Hradec Králové 115, Teamstore Brno 55
— Women’s Baksetball (EWBL) — BK Žabiny Brno 97, A3 Basket Umea 63
— Men’s Basketball: egoé Basket Brno 89, Královští sokoli 77
Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019
— Women’s Basketball: SBŠ Ostrava 57, KP Brno 86
BRNO SPORTS SCHEDULE
The schedule for various Brno professional and recreational sports for the next two weeks. All dates and times subject to change. Home team listed first (when applicable).
Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2018
— Women’s Basketball; Žabiny Brno X KP Brno, 6 p.m.
— Men’s Basketball: egoé Basket Brno X BK JIP Pardubice, 8 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 8, 2018
— Women’s Basketball: U19 Chance X Žabiny Brno, 5:45 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019
— Women’s Basketball: KP Brno X Sokol Hradec Králové, 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019
— Women’s Basketball: Teamstore Brno X ZVVZ USK Praha, 5 p.m.
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Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019
— Hockey: Ml. Boleslav X Kometa, 5:20 p.m. (ČT Sport)
— Men’s Basketball: BK ARMEX Děčín X egoé Basket Brno, 8 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 15, 2019
— Hockey: Kometa X Pardubice, 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019
— Women’s Basketball: Žabiny Brno X DSK Basketball Nymburk, 5 p.m.
— Women’s Basketball: ZVVZ USK Praha X KP Brno, 5 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019
— Women’s Basketball: Loko Trutnov X Teamstore Brno, 5 p.m.
— Hockey: Oceláři Třinec X Kometa, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019
— Hockey: Kometa X Mountfield HK, 6 p.m.
The Brno Sports Report is published every Wednesday. All dates and times are subject to change. Most of the stories are about the traditional “English-speaking” team sports — football, hockey, baseball, basketball, American football, rugby, etc. — but it is also about the interesting local spectator and participation sports — tennis, badminton, running, horse racing, swimming, rock climbing, biking, etc. If you have any suggestions for what should be included, please comment below or send an email to brnosports@gmail.com.
