The EYBL tour started off around Riga. The Moscow Region team’s coach Sergey ZIGULIN:

— The EYBL directorate wants to make the pre-New Year tournament a tradition, but I’m not sure if the tournament will always take place in Riga. The youth teams will take part, at least the players up to 18-years-old, or even 21. This time all the clubs exhibited their national team’s roster, boys born in 1989 and even 1987 (two players). Our oldest players were Andrei Koscheev and Nikita Stepanenkov, both born 1988, and Yakovenko, Khrinin, Tsiganov and Gutsev.

— Eight teams participated in the tournament, divided into two sub groupings. We played two games per day; the first game was against Barons, of Riga, holding the lead throughout most of the game. And though we messed up a bit towards the end, we did win with a slight lead. In the afternoon we had a match against Khimki from the Ukraine, working a good defense and winning with ease. The next morning we “received” the Polish team Prokom Trefl. Nevertheless, that match was not decisive, as we had already won first place and the rival was fourth. I let all the players, who hadn’t gotten much game time, get a chance on court. This resulted in us losing a bit towards game’s end.

— During the afternoon we played the semifinal against Zalgiris, which had clinched second place in the other group. The match was interesting and ended up in our victory. In the final we faced off with Dynamo Moscow, which in the semifinals in overtime and by one point beat our previous opponent, Barons Club. Nonetheless, the final eluded us, or we softened, or the Muscovites played well, or we didn’t give a proper defense, and we lost.

— The most valuable player for the tournament was our own Andrei Koscheev, while Artem Yakovenko remained in the symbolic line up of the tournament.

Tournament Results:

Khimki vs. Barons: 66-61

Khimik vs. Khimki: 58-72

Khimki vs. Prokom Trefl: 54-61

Khimki vs. Zalgiris: 86-79

Dynamo vs. Khimki: 94-65

Later on, players born in 1990 and 1992 played EYBLs second stage games; Khimki’s older players in Kandava, Latvia (obtaining second place in the two stages) and the younger ones in Lebedian (sixth place). Mikhail Komissarov is coach for the players born in 1990, while Viktor Uskov coaches those of 1992.

Mikhail KOMISSAROV:

— During the second day of games, just as in the first, we played pretty well, bearing one defeat out of five games. As for the team, this was the most intense stage: two very good teams from Sweden, one from Riga and the Masalskis School from Latvia. All the games against the opponents were tough.

— The Riga Pols roster has several players from the Latvian National Team. Laska -son of the famous center — with his good shots and 2 meters on him plays, nonetheless, in position 2. He obtained MVP for the tournament, and scored us 22 points.

— I think we were less prepared -compared to the first day — for various external factors: end of year holidays, the participation of some DYBL team players… Nonetheless, all my boys demonstrated a warrior’s character and a predisposition for victory. Besides, we didn’t do that bad in the defense, while there were some problems with the offense, still this kind of result comes from defensive plays.

— We lost in the face-off with the Lithuanians in the last day of the tournament. The battle was level up until the last quarter. In fact at one point we were leading by 7 points, but we were lacking preparation. We lost the last quarter, not able to score despite our efforts. Even if we didn’t allow for much to get by us, getting baskets even to a lesser degree… And in the second to the last game in minute 4, the guard Chichaikin injured his ankle, which cost us his leadership and masterful skills.

— Now, after 10 games we have two defeats to our name. I'm sure we will have a very important game in Moscow in March. We have enough chances to get to the Super Finals.

Viktor USKOV:

— We played against teams from the cities of Klaipeda, Šiauliai, Vilnius, and Minsk, which are serious opponents: during last season they were in the finals: Šiauliai is usually ranked second in this tournament.

— The first game against Klaipeda was quite difficult. Both clubs had a good chance, but we lost coming up into the end.

— The second match was against the Minsk-2006 team. After the defeat at the hands of the Lithuanians, the boys had armed themselves and played well. We won, but in the second half our leaders Karpushin and Ovcherenko both injured their ankles, and were left out of the subsequent matches.

— The face-off with Šiauliai was unlucky. The opponent’s zone defense brought us big problems. In the game versus Vilnius they had beat both teams, but this time around victory was on our side. In the last match we won easily against the home team.

— If it were not for the injuries, we could have played better. Taking everything into consideration, the results can not be deemed unsatisfactory. This tournament allowed us to detect good players on the team: Artem Bobrov and Vladimir Evtefeev. I think they will be able to play in Khimki’s team.

— Still ahead we have the last stage, and if we win three out of five games, we go on to the Super Finals.