"Cherkasy Monkeys" lost in overtime in the Favbet Super League

On Saturday, December 9, the Ukrainian basketball championship hosted another regular season match in the Favbet Super League. The hosts "Cherkasy Monkeys" lost to Rivne-Regional School of Higher Sportsmanship 86-94 in overtime on their home court.

The confrontation was expected to be very competitive, and all the predictions in this regard were justified to the fullest extent: the winner was determined in overtime, and it was Rivne - 94:86 in favor of Mykhailo Pereverzii's team.

The match started off quite nervously: the score was opened only a minute and a half after the ball was put into play. However, the teams quickly found their shots, especially from long range (44 percent of the first quarter shots for the "Monkeys" versus 37 percent for Rivne). The home team took the lead in the first ten minutes, primarily thanks to a 13-3 spurt in the middle of the quarter.

In the second quarter, Rivne seized the initiative, first tying the score (36:36), and before the big break, American legionnaire Romeo Smith finally put the team ahead (40:38). Rivne started moving the ball much better, their bench was more efficient than the Monkeys' reserves, and the number of losses was lower, which also led to the fact that Mykhailo Pereverziy's team took a 15-minute rest as the leaders.

The high degree of confrontation did not decrease in the second half of the game. Both teams played high-quality basketball. In the third quarter, Rivne continued to have the initiative, winning this ten-minute period.

The "Monkeys" started the final quarter better. In the 34th minute, the team's center Andriy Agafonov tied the game at 70-70 with a three-pointer. The game naturally went into a clutch, and then into overtime. At the same time, the teams were constantly changing the lead.

Rivne played the decisive five minutes much more confidently and managed to take revenge for the defeat in the first round.

Oleksandr Shepelev scored 21 points for the winners. Romeo Smith scored a double-double (19 points + 13 rebounds). Dmytro Tymoshchuk dished out 11 assists to his teammates.

Eric Boone Jr. was the most productive player for the Cherkasy Monkeys with 24 points, to which he added 11 rebounds and 8 assists. Andriy Agafonov had 22 points and 9 rebounds.

After this match, the balance of wins and losses was equalized - 8-5.

Super League. Regular season

Cherkasy, PS Budivelnyk

Cherkasy Monkeys - Rivne-OSHVSM 86:94 (27:17, 11:25, 21:25, 22:14, 5:13)

Cherkasy Monkeys: Boone Jr. 24 + 8 assists + 11 rebounds + 3 steals - 5 turnovers, Agafonov 22 + 9 rebounds, Kalnichenko 12, Novikov 6, Kuznetsov 3 - start; Dalcourt 11, Skira 5, Ruslov 3, Nazarenko 0, Upyr 0, Fesun 0, Mitirich 0.

Rivne: Smith 19 + 13 rebounds + 4 assists, Solovyov 17 - 3 losses, Joyner 16 + 5 assists, Vodolazky 10, Mochalov 5 - start, Shepelev 21, Tymoshchuk 6 + 11 assists + 3 steals, Carrying 0.