Tsmoki Minsk retains Premier League

Tsmoki Minsk cruised past arch rival Grodno-93 to win the Belarus Premier League with a clean 4-0 sweep of the finals series. The two clubs are the two biggest in the country, but Tsmoki Minsk has been in control of the Premier League and this was the club’s seventh consecutive title, four of them coming when the outfit was known as Minsk 2006.

The defending champions have looked untouchable throughout the finals series as they have simply brushed Grodno aside in each encounter. Game 4 proved to be the icing on the proverbial cake as Tsmoki claimed a 112-70 win.

As a winning margin of over 40 points suggests, Tsmoki Minsk had complete control of the hardwood throughout, including in the first quarter when the hosts won the period 32-10. That opening attack set up the rest of the game, with the Minsk club winning the second 26-17 to have a 58-27 lead through halftime. That huge lead made the second half a cruise as the champs conceded the third act 23-24 before sealing the win with a winning 31-19 run on the fourth quarter.

Branko Mirkovic led the Minsk attack with 22 points and 7 assists, while he also pulled 6 rebounds off the glass. Vitali Liutych nailed 20 points, followed by Ivan Maras with a double-double of 17 points and 12 boards. Rounding out the high scorers in the winning team was Aliaksandr Semianiuk with 14 points.

Kiril Sitnik topped Grodno with 17 points, while Vyacheslau Korzh and Dzmitry Kuzmin each logged 13 apiece.