Ukrainian champions punch the last ticket to the Basketball Champions League Regular Season

BC Prometey was making the headlines with their recruiting over the summer, and it is starting to pay off already. The champions of Ukraine booked their place in the Regular Season with a close 67-65 win over Parma-Parimatch.

The game was probably too close for coach Ronen Ginzburg’s liking. Still, when you bring in big names like DJ Stephens and D’Angelo Harrison, you’re feeling comfortable about playing the close encounters all over the continent.

Prometey opened up a 41-28 at the break behind Harrison’s 12 first-quarter points. But Kazys Maksvytis found a way around their tough defense, and his guys did their part, disrupting the flow of Prometey’s offense to get back in the game before the fourth quarter started.

In fact, Parma-Parimatch owned a 54-49 lead early in the last stanza. That’s when Harrison started the charge, a pair of triples made it 57-57 with five to play, and a transition layup gave the lead back to Prometey, forcing a timeout out of Maksvytis.

All to no avail – once Parma stopped Harrison, DJ Stephens took over and sank back to back three-pointers, proving he is much more than just a highlight machine, pushing the lead to 67-59 and all but securing the win for Prometey.

Even when Parma had one last chance to make it interesting, Stephens came up with a massive steal at 67-63 inside the final minute. Having the experience needed, the Ukrainian champs just drained the clock the rest of the way, starting their celebrations at halfcourt as soon as the buzzer sounded.

Prometey is the second Ukrainian team to reach the group stage of the BCL, the first one being Khimik Yuzhne back in 2016-17. Ginzburg, Harrison, Stephens, and the rest of the crew will be located in Regular Season Group A, alongside Dinamo Sassari, Lenovo Tenerife, and MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg.