Vassilis Spanoulis commented on Joe Ragland’s fifth late game foul and Huertas’ winning shots after Peristeri’s semi-final against Tenerife in the Basketball Champions League Final Four.
The coach of Peristeri, Vassilis Spanoulis, expressed his pride for his team and gave the signal for the small final on Sunday (28/4).
The statements of Vassilis Spanoulis:
“It was a very tough game. Sometimes it looked like we were in control, other times we made some mistakes. In the end we were two points behind at 40”. I think there were 2-3 situations where there was no foul and we sent them to the shots. We fought a lot, Huertas and Guy had a big day, we tried a lot to shut them down.
But what more can I ask of my players. They showed heart, I’m proud of them and the organization, the world. These are big moments for Peristeri. We will learn our lesson and move on. We respect our job and the shirt and we have to be ready for the little final.
For offense and defense: “There’s always someone who can help in attack, that’s how the team was built. The problem today was the defense, we conceded 97 points, three players gave us 82 points. Some baskets were from their experience, others from our mistakes. We fought hard all year.”
For the technical penalty he received at the end: “It was a foul, you can’t give that away. That’s how many years I’ve been playing basketball… Ragland’s foul on Huertas at 48′ (including the shots and the technical penalty it was 93-88). It was tough to give that foul, but everyone makes mistakes. I complained to the referee, I didn’t swear at him, but I told him it’s a shame to give that foul. It was a foul that was whistled from 11-12 meters. It’s a tough man’s game, it was too much of a foul, especially at the point of the match.”
