European Champions' Cup Play-Offs 1958-1959

The Riga left totally sentenced the title in the first leg of the final. The Akademik with a great game of Radev could only stay close to the score until the break (35-33). At the restart Krumins started to impose his relentless law on the zones and Riga started to get their speed up. An unruly Akademik could not contain his opponent's attacking flow and the distances began to get too big. In the end the result was 79-58, a difference that left Riga almost virtually champions.

Courtesy of BasketFinals

ASK Riga - Akademik Sofia 79-58

Despite Riga's Armijas Sporta Klubs' 21-point lead from the first leg, nearly 20,000 people gathered at the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia in the hope of a miracle and a repeat of last year's European Cup final. In the end it was not to be, although the Akademik managed to leave the pitch with dignity, because throughout the entire match it was about you to the powerful Soviet team. From the start of the game, the Bulgarians launched a frantic attack, with a zone defence that encouraged rapid counter-attacks, and this led them to an eight-point lead after four minutes (9-1). However, after a time-out by Aleksandr Gomel'skij, ASK applied themselves with more intensity in defence and more patience in attacking the Bulgarian zone, and after managing to equalise the score (15-15) the match entered a dynamic of greater equality and the draws followed one another constantly on the scoreboard, until they reached 65-65 with two minutes to go, with which, yes, the locals lowered their arms definitively. Taking advantage of the deflation of the Bulgarian team in the last stages of the match, ASK could even get the final victory thanks to two magnificent baskets of Valdis Muiznieks (67-69).

Akademik Sofia - ASK Riga 67-69
BK Akademik (coach: Bozhidar Takev): Mikhail Semov 5, Ljubomir Panov 12, Georgi Panov 8, Petko Lazarov 4, Viktor Radev 22; Konstantin Stoimenov 4, Nikola Ilov 12. Emanuilov, Dimitar Atanasov, Aleksandar Blagoev, Bx Nikolov dnp, Ljuben Darvov dnp.
Rigas ASK (coach: Aleksandr Gomelskij): Valdis Muiznieks 7, Olgerts Hehts 6, Gundars Muiznieks 6, Leons Jankovskis 2, Janis Krumins (218-C-1930) 29; Maigonis Valdmanis 7, Alvils Gulbis 12, Janis Davids, Ivars Veritis dnp, Teobalds Kalherts dnp, Andrejs Bergs