VEF Rīga fight for second place in Plovdiv as Valmiera host Bashkimi in FIBA Europe Cup

Two Latvian clubs play in the FIBA Europe Cup regular season on Wednesday evening. VEF Rīga visit Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Bulgaria at 19:00 Riga time, while Valmiera Glass/ViA host the Kosovan club Bashkimi from Prizren at the Vidzeme Olympic Centre at the same time. The VEF game is shown by Radio SWH TV, and the game in Valmiera on the club’s streaming site, tiesraides.vgvia.lv.

Three teams level in Group H

Each group has six teams and only the top two reach the next stage. Greek side Mykonos lead Group H with five wins from five games, followed by three teams on 3-2: VEF (points difference +60), Romania’s Oradea (+30) and Lokomotiv (+1). That makes the game in Plovdiv a direct contest for second place. VEF lost 91-88 to Mykonos earlier in the group after letting a 16-point lead slip.

VEF’s top scorer in the competition is the American Jordan Sears with 19.2 points per game. Plovdiv’s main threat is Jomaru Brown, who averages 21.4 points, the fourth-best figure in the tournament.

A chance for Valmiera to hit back

In Group F, Valmiera Glass/ViA are fourth with two wins from five games, while Bashkimi have won one of four. That only win came against Valmiera: in the opening round in Prizren, Divine Myles scored on the buzzer to give Bashkimi a 79-77 victory. French club Elan Chalon lead the group.

Valmiera have one of the competition’s leading scorers in Bryce McBride, whose average of 21 points per game is the fifth-best in the FIBA Europe Cup. He scored 25 in the first game against Bashkimi.

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