Basketball

Dnepr player: “We want to win and prove that defeat was a mistake”

Published

5 hours ago

January 17, 2026

Ralph

Dnepr player: “We want to win and prove that defeat was a mistake”

Dnepr player Maksim Zakurdaev He shared his expectations from the Kiev tour, where his team will play Kiev-Basket (January 17) and Rivne (January 18).

– Maxim, Dnepr played two matches last week against Hoverla and Stary Lutsk and won both. How difficult were these matches for you after the break in the championship?

– We always maintain our physical shape, we worked hard for this during the holidays and the short break of the championship. Probably the fact that we were going to Zaporozhye by bus left its mark on our game. For this reason, the first quarters were not very successful for us. Then we increased the tempo and gained an advantage. All in all, these two wins were quite convincing for us.

– In what mode did you practice this week, considering that the next match will be played against Kiev-Basket?

– In addition to the general training regime, we train directly according to our plan, which explains how to prepare for the game. We rested after the matches in Zaporozhye and stayed in shape for two days by playing some combinations that Kiev-Basket usually uses. After Kyiv-Basket, we will prepare for the Rivne match.

– The only team that defeated you in local tournaments last season was “Kyiv-Basket”. Now this is your main rival?

– Probably not, not essential. We won a lot against them. They are also among the leaders in the rankings, so this is a very important match for us. We want to defeat those close to us.

– On November 1, you defeated Kyiv-Basket with a score of 70:69. Do you think it will be such a close match this time too?

– It’s hard to say, but I think our advantage will be 10+.

– Egor Sushkin showed himself last season in “Kiev-Basket”, and this season Artem Romanitsa showed himself no less well. How do you plan to control this active youth?

“We can contain them.” You just shouldn’t let these guys get away with it. Of course they are ambitious and they really want to win. But we are trying to play smart, so stopping the youth is not a difficult task for us. It’s nice to play against such promising players. Moreover, Sushkin gained more experience in the national team, where he performed very well. Playing against such young and ambitious players and trying to control them is actually an interesting challenge.

– When you look at the average level of the teams, is the current championship stronger than the previous one?

– I thought I was getting stronger at the beginning of the championship, but now I don’t know… “Cherkassy Mavpy” experienced a big decline with the departure of Agafonov. Some other teams have slowed down a bit compared to the start of the championship. On the other hand, there are teams such as “Old Lutsk”, which, on the contrary, have begun to add. In general, I think the level remains the same as last season.

– You averaged 9 points and 3.2 rebounds in 13 games this season. How satisfied are you with your personal statistics?

– I’m not very happy. These are role-playing statistics… But if we win, these indicators are sufficient for the success of the team. I’m trying to play better and help more.

– “Kyiv-Basket” match will be played in the capital’s Veneto Sports Palace. This means there will be a lot of opposition fans. Does this create extra pressure for you, or on the contrary, is it nice to have the hall filled with spectators?

– Yes, the atmosphere is very nice. He plays with emotions well, especially when the hall is full of spectators. Even if the hall is physically cold, you feel some kind of warmth inside. For example, in Zaporozhye, fans are not allowed to come to the match and the game may appear gray somewhere. The picture is somehow missing. In this sense, it is quite difficult there; You can lose your concentration, you can get confused… But it’s nice if there are fans, even if they are rivals. We are already experienced players, we do not care who the fans support on the field. In the current realities, we are happy that spectators come to watch basketball.

– Besides Kiev-Basket, you will also play against Rivne, the only team to defeat Dnepr this season. Do you promise to take your revenge powerfully?

– Of course we want to win and prove that the defeat was a mistake. Somewhere we did not adapt well to this game, we relaxed… We need to give a worthy answer and prove that “Rovno” won because we played poorly.

Source: Sport UA

Ralph

Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.

Basketball

Super League. Kyiv-Basket beat Dnepr, Peacock’s triple-double

Published

1 hour ago

January 17, 2026

Ralph

Super League. Kyiv-Basket beat Dnepr, Peacock’s triple-double

4 matches were played in the Super League on Saturday, January 17.

The matchday program was opened by Prykarpattya-Hoverla and Niko-Basket in Lutsk.

The home team had a better start to the match: They took the lead with a score of 5:2 after the first attacks and soon increased their advantage to 7 points. However, the guests accepted the challenge with honor and made an advance of 11:2 in the middle of 10 minutes. “Prykarpattya-Hoverla” finally came close to its opponent, thanks to the effective moves of Startsev, who made a three-point shot and converted a pass under the basket, but lost at 23:28 of the first quarter.

However, in the second period of the game, the Ivano-Frankivsk team began to actively win back from the first minutes. Startsev converted a floater, and then the home team completed two successive attacks with long-range strikes: it was Chugunov and Kuznetsov who put Prykarpattya-Hoverla ahead by hitting the opponent’s basket from long range. However, this lead did not last long: in the middle of the quarter, Niko-Basket regained the lead with Safonov’s three-pointer at 35:35. But still, approaching the big break, Franko made an attack at 11:3, which allowed them to finish the first half with a positive result for themselves – 53:49 in the end.

In the third quarter, the performance of the teams dropped slightly: there were misses and long-distance hits decreased. In this period of the match, “Hoverla” was ahead by a maximum of five points, and as the match approached the last stoppage, Victor Bugra’s team managed to increase the advantage to six points with a three-point basket by Leiterrance Reed and increased this success even more. But Niko-Basket showed its character once again: accurate two-pointers by Grischuk and Safonov allowed us to maintain our measured optimism for the last quarter: 75:70 in favor of Prykarpattya-Hoverla.

Ivano-Frankivsk basketball players started the decisive quarter with a long-range shot by Startsev. “Niko-Basket” did not plan to lose, so there were a lot of fights further up the field and, as a result, fouls. Nevertheless, the Ivano-Frankivsk team managed to escape and did not allow Niko-Basket to approach the critical distance. True, the guests no longer found the strength for another breakthrough.

The most productive player of the match was Ilya Kabatsyura, who scored 28 points.

“Rivne” beat “Zaporozhye” and overtook it in the rankings.

The teams were side by side on the score until the last quarter – Rivne was almost always ahead, but Zaporozhye took the lead by 1-2 points several times in the first half and equalized in the third quarter.

The key was the breakthrough of “Rivne” at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, after which the advantage of Denis Spiridonov’s attacks reached 19 points. The Rovenians then took the match to victory.

“Rivne” won the rebound 52-45 and made better three-point shots (14/29 – 48%), while “Zaporozhye” made only 8 out of 37 shots (21%), which were the key indicators.

For Rivne, Vitaly Bykov was the best with 32 points (he made 8 of 11 three-pointers), while Jaylen Dupree scored 9 points with 13 rebounds. Rod Brown, who returned to the team, scored 3 points and collected 8 rebounds in his first game of the season. While Anton Butz had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds for Zaporozhye, Braxton Lovings was the most productive name with 16 points.

In a competitive match “Old Lutsk” lost to “Kryvbas”.

The first half of the match was equal and spectacular – “Old Lutsk” was ahead in the first quarter, “Krivbass” was ahead in the second quarter, and the teams entered the long break with a score of 49:47 in favor of the visiting team. The third quarter was unsuccessful for “Old Lutsk”, who scored 15 points but conceded 27 points, and “Krivbass” had a +14 advantage before the last quarter. Nevertheless, “Old Lutsk” managed to seize the initiative, respond to the intrigue and equalize the score. Lutsk team had many opportunities to take the lead in the last minutes, but they could not take advantage of them. Krivbass carried out their attacks and won the match.

In this match, Krivbass’s triple-double was recorded by Alexander Peacock, who played without a substitution, and made 14 points (4/8 two-pointers, 1/2 three-pointers, 3/4 free throws), 10 rebounds, 10 assists. Kryvbas’ top scorer was Martin Hill with 24 points.

While Vladislav Nikolaychuk had a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds for Lutsk, foreign players also showed high performance. Roy scored 19 points, Moore 18 points and Anderson 17 points.

The main match of the Super League match round was the meeting of last year’s finalists: in the capital of Ukraine, the local “Kiev-Basket” hosted the current champion Dnepr basketball club.

The beginning of the reporting match heralded a generally equal fight: none of the opponents were ahead on the score, but Denis Klevzunnik stood out for Kiev-Basket, who broke the 10-point mark in the first ten minutes. “Dnepr” took a significant step towards victory in the first quarter with a long shot by Igor Dubonenko (23:18), but the Kiev team managed to take back three points in the last seconds: Artem Smityukh made a good attempt – 21:23 at the end of the first quarter.

Although Klevzunnik’s useful performance for the home team continued in the second 10 minutes, the guest team preferred long-range shots: Vladimir Konev and Roman Bondarchuk cheered the crowd with their shots. Sergei Zagreb, who scored a magnificent dunk in the middle of the quarter, played a major role in Dnepr’s attacks in the last minutes before the big break. When the score reached 37:29 with Koldomasov’s magnificent pass, it was seen that Dnepr could not give up its advantage in this quarter either. However, Kiev-Basket made a comeback: First Romanitsa gave the team two points, then converted a shot from long range. The first half ended with two consecutive effective attacks by Denis Klevzunnik – 42:39.

There was a lot of fighting on the field in the third quarter; The leader of the conflict changed four times. However, Kiev-Basket maintained its minimal advantage before the last ten minutes: 56:55. The start of the last quarter was better for the home team: two consecutive three-pointers by Romanitsa and Bublik gave Kiev-Basket a significant psychological advantage. The break did not help Dnepr either, as the Kievans were ahead by as much as 10 points in the quarter. Dnepr tried to catch up with its opponent and in the end almost saved the game, when with 12 seconds left, 73:67, Zakurdaev was fouled while trying to make a three-point shot. However, Maxim missed all three free throws. While “Kiev-Basket” brought the matter to victory with a score of 75:69, “Dnepr” suffered its second defeat in the current championship.

The most productive player of the match was Denis Klevzunik, who had a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds.

Super League. Regular season, January 17

Prykarpattya-Hoverla – Niko-Basket 98:88 (23:28, 30:21, 22:21, 23:18)

hoverla: Kuznetsov 5 + 4 rebounds, Startsev 25 + 6 assists, Reed 19 + 3 rebounds + 3 assists, Kabatsyura 28 + 6 assists, Morozov 16 + 5 rebounds – start; Markov 0, Chugunov 3, Dmitrenko 2, Drozdov 0.

Niko-Basket: Lukyan 8+10 rebounds, Zaitsev 4+5 rebounds, Safonov 19+4 rebounds+4 assists, Likhoy 11+4 rebounds, Garbar 10 – starts; Grischuk 16 + 6 rebounds, Sturov 0 + 3 rebounds, Volodin 20 + 7 rebounds, Kabanov 0.

Rivne – Zaporozhye 90:68 (18:13, 16:20, 30:22, 26:13)

Straight: Dupree 9 + 13 rebounds, Traylor 7, Timoshchuk 7 + 7 rebounds + 7 assists, Bykov 32, Ryaboy 2 – start; Ponosov 14, Shepelev 9, Korovyakov 4, Brown 3 + 8 rebounds, Sheptytsky 3.

Zaporozhye: Lishchina 7 + 5 rebounds, Matthews 6 + 8 rebounds, Lovings 16 + 6 assists, Butz 14 + 11 rebounds, Petrenko 12 + 5 rebounds – start; Velichko 11, Klimanov 2, Surkis 0, Rybakov 0, Terekhin 0.

Old Lutsk – Krivbass 82:86 (23:24, 24:25, 15:27, 20:10)

Old Lutsk: Roy 19, Nikolaychuk 18 + 12 rebounds, Dupin 2, Moore 18, Lesik 6 + 5 rebounds – start; Anderson 17, Gorobchenko 2, Tovkach 0, Mikhailov 0.

Krivbas: Hill 24 + 8 rebounds, Dalcourt 17 + 5 rebounds, Skira 4, Peacock 14 + 10 rebounds + 10 assists, Vodolazsky 14 + 5 rebounds – start; Trikolenko 10 + 7 rebounds, Bibikov 3, Brechka 0.

Kyiv-Basket – Dnepr 75:69 (21:23, 21:16, 14:16, 19:14)

Kyiv-Basket: Sushkin 9, Bublik 10 + 5 assists, Klevzunnik 28 + 10 rebounds, Smityukh 7 + 3 rebounds, Sandul 0 + 7 rebounds + 3 assists – start; Romanitsa 17 + 4 rebounds, Kolawole 4, Bur 0.

Dnieper: Gorobchenko 6 + 4 rebounds, Zakurdaev 7 + 6 rebounds + 5 assists, Konev 11 + 3 assists, Timofeenko 5 + 6 rebounds, Sipalo 3 – start; Zagreb 19 + 5 rebounds + 3 assists, Koldomasov 2 + 5 assists + 4 rebounds, Dubonenko 9, Bondarchuk 7, Sorochan 0.

tournament table

Source: Sport UA

Ralph

Basketball

OFFICIALLY. Signed one of last season’s best players

Published

6 hours ago

January 17, 2026

Ralph

OFFICIALLY. Signed one of last season’s best players

BC “Rivne” announced the signing of a heavy forward Rod Brown.

The 27-year-old American returned to the Rivne club, where he played last season and was one of the leaders of the team.

While Brown averaged 13.2 points + 8.5 rebounds in 35 matches with the team, he also made 12 double-doubles, which was the best indicator of the season in the Super League.

Rod started his current season in Switzerland, where he plays for second division club Winterthur. He averaged 19.1 points + 10.6 rebounds + 2.3 assists + 2.2 steals in 9 games.

Brown is the fourth foreign player in Rivne. The team currently includes Jaylen Dupree, Syvon Traylor and Carlos Hines.

Super League regulations allow more than three foreign players to be included in a season’s squad, but no more than three foreign players are allowed to be directly included in a match.

Source: Sport UA

Ralph