Virtus Bologna lift the Basketball Champions League trophy at Antwerps Sportpaleis; Kevin Punter is the MVP of the Final Four on May 5th, 2019

Virtus Segafredo Bologna vs. CB Canarias Iberostar Tenerife: 73-61
Score evolution: 20-8, 38-24, 58-44 and 73-61

This final definitely had the taste and the look of top level European basketball... Just like in the semi-final against Brose Bamberg of Germany two days before, the Virtus team started strongly: 7-0. Tim Abromaitis had the chance to score the first points of CB Canarias Iberostar Tenerife from the free-throw line 7-2. A few moments later, Virtus Bologna's star Kevin Punter already hit his third three-pointer of the match...13-2! His French mate Amath Mbaye, also pretty efficient, hit a basket to make 15-4. After 4'55" in the game, a first time-out was asked by the CB Canarias Head Coach Jesus Vidorreta. Only the US big man Colton Iverson managed to put the V defense into trouble. The Iberostar guys coming off the bench still made a good job, a little bit like what they did in their semi-final matchup against the Antwerp Giants on Friday, May 3rd. The Spaniards came back at 15-8, with Javier Beiran and Ferran Bassas well present in defense. After having scored a three-pointer and following a steal by his mate Pietro Aradori, Amath Mbaye dunked the ball to make 20-8 for Virtus Bologna. The Italian team looked very strong physically, well-prepared and much quicker than the Spanish squad in transition through the whole quarter which ended with the same score.

Early in the second quarter, Mario Chalmers showed why he was hired by Virtus Bologna not by scoring but by simply putting some defensive pressure on his opponents... or by distilling passes to his tall man Dejan Kravic. The score evolved, but not as quickly as it did in the first quarter: 22-10. Former NBA champion Mario Chalmers (ex-Miami Heat) got in action also in offense and allowed his team to keep a 12-point advantage: 24-12. Amath Mbaye continued his show from long range and the VuNere could again celebrate in the stands and on the bench behind Head Coach Aleksandar Djordjevic: 29-12! Colton Iverson grabbed some important rebounds to keep the Spanish team alive but, on the whole, the Virtus players kept playing with great intensity. The scoreboard showed 32-16 with 3'45" remaining in the first half and Colton Iverson was trying all he could to help the Canary Islands' team stay in the race. Argentinian forward Nicolas Brussino was not as efficient as on Friday night, in the semi-final against the Giants, but at least he showed some will to do well. His coach even gave him a high five to keep encouraging him in his attempts from long or middle range. The Virtus players committed some fouls which allowed the CB Canarias players to have free-throws which they transformed: 35-21. Belgian international Pierre-Antoine Gillet hit an important three-point shot to reduce the gap at 37-24 and Virtus Bologna's Head Coach Sacha Djordjevic was then obliged to take a time-out to stop the Iberostar run. Virtus could then count on Amath Mbaye who hit 1/2 from the free throw line to finish the second quarter: 38-24.

And guess what? Kevin Punter gave the impulse again on his team's first play in offense: three points and the bonus behind! All Aurinegros' fans in the Sportpaleis looked amazed. 42-24 appeared on the scoreboard! Despite efforts in the paint by CB Canarias Iberostar Tenerife's US duo Iverson and Abromaitis, Virtus kept things under control. Punter again, from the left corner, made 45-29 with a bomb. CB Canarias could not resist against the efficiency of Virtus Bologna's transition plays. Javier Beiran also tried to challenge the Virtus defense: he scored and came up with a nice assist to Abromaitis who smashed the ball into the rim to make 47-34 and even 47-35 with the following 'and-one'. Devin White hit a three-pointer from downtown and imitated his team mate Abromaitis by transforming the bonus to make 48-39. Mario Chalmers, team captain Pietro Aradori and Kevin Punter showed that the Virtus house was kept in good hands and the 15-point margin was reached again: 54-39. With Ferran Bassas at playmaking and Lucca Staiger suddenly more efficient at shooting, the Spanish team seemed to get closer and closer: 54-44. Thanks to a nice rush, Virtus nevertheless rebuilt a nice advantage at the end of the third quarter: 58-44.

Early in the fourth period, former Notre Dame player Tim Abromaitis hit a fantastic three-pointer to give hope to the CB Canarias fans present in one corner of the Antwerps Sportpaleis. Bassas hit one as well a few seconds later, making it a 10-point game again: 60-50. Was this game far from being over? Mario Chalmers of Virtus Bologna displayed all his skills with a beautiful fadeaway shot to reach 62-50 but missed several scoring opportunities afterwards, especially from the line. It was 62-52 when entering the money time. Abromaitis kept CB Canarias alive and connected to make 62-54 a few moments later when the Virtus Coach Djordjevic took a time-out to stop the haemorrhage. The coaching battle really started then and Coach Vidorreta also took a time-out right after Pietro Aradori was offered a free way to score an easy lay-up (what he did): 64-54. Virtus player Tony Taylor was fouled out and Bassas nailed only 1/2 from the line behind it: 64-55. Abromaitis still reduced the gap at 64-57! After an offensive foul called against Bassas, the referees were then booed by most of the attendance. On a last rush, Beiran could have been the CB Canarias "salvador"... but NBA star Chalmers proved anew that he had been hired by the mythical Italian club of Virtus Bologna to win the title. After a new great drive in the paint, Chalmers finished with a new fadeaway to make 67-59. Last efforts by CB Canarias players were vain, despite having won the battle of the rebound. Virtus finished fastbreak situations in nice manners, with Punter putting an end to the job that he had started already a long time before in this championship game. 73-61 for Virtus Bologna, a well deserved win for that club with an impressive roster and a fantastic coach, Aleksandar Djordjevic, who managed to transcend his guys for this Final Four in just a few weeks! The Basketball Champions League Final Four 2019, very well organized, is now history!

Kevin Punter was elected MVP of the Basketball Champions League Final Four.

Best scorers:

Virtus Bologna: Kevin Punter 26, Kelvin Martin 2, Yanick Moreira 4, Tony Taylor 4, Dejan Kravic 4, Mario Chalmers 8, Pietro Aradori 9, Amath Mbaye 16.

CB Canarias Tenerife: Tim Abromaitis 18, Ferran Bassas 5, Javier Beiran 9, Nicolas Brussino 2, Pierre-Antoine Gillet 3, Colton Iverson 11, Mamadou Niang 2, Sebastian Saiz 1, Rodrigo San Miguel 3, Davin White 4, Lucca Staiger 3.

The Basketball Champions League Final Four 2019 held in Antwerp on May 3rd and 5th, 2019 will be remembered by all players, staff members, officials, observers, fans, journalists and reporters as a great basketball event and a flawless organization. Those who went to the Antwerps Sportpaleis truly enjoyed the basketball action with four top-level teams as well as the shows and the entertainment during the whole Final Four weekend.

Here are some of the BCL Final Four 2019 facts or memories that I will keep in mind and that I want to share with you (I had the chance to cover the event for Eurobasket.com -- see https://www.eurobasket.com/Basketball-Champions-League/basketball.asp):

- the semi-final game between Telenet Giants Antwerp and Iberostar Tenerife CB Canarias attended by 17.239 people on May 3rd, an attendance record for a basketball game in Belgium;

- the Basketball Champions League trophy coming down from the huge digital screen fixed on the ceiling of the Sportpaleis, giving the impression that it descended from heaven -- check video freely available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsomM8ifry0;

- the smiles of the volunteers who were present in the rain outside the Sportpaleis to give directions to press and media members for them to park their cars, the smiles of the security officers who welcomed people and watched for everyone's safety in the halls leading to the media center, the press conference room and the arena and finally the smiles of the kind ladies who rushed at the end of every quarter to efficiently distribute the stat sheets;

- at Friday's post-game press conference, Coach Aleksandar Djordjevic concluded by giving the impression that he would request some improvement in defense from his Virtus players despite the fact that his team had conceded... only 50 points against German Cup winner Brose Bamberg and had just reached the Basketball Champions League final which they eventually won on May 5th;

- the dominance of both winning teams in assists at the semi-final stage: the Virtus squad recorded 12 of them (5 assists for US point guard Tony Taylor) in the game against the Bavarians of Brose Bamberg who had only 4 assists and CB Canarias players gave 19 assists (8 for Spanish point guard Rodrigo San Miguel) in their semi-final contest against the Giants who recorded only 12 of them;

- the great Virtus defense in the final game, the Italians pushed CB Canarias players to have shots forced or being taken off balance (the Iberostar team hit 5/37 from three-point range with the first bomb dropped in after 15 tries);

- the great music and rhythms played by DJ Regi before the final game on Sunday;

- the nice polo shirt and the backpack offered by the Basketball Champions League to each press and media member present at the Antwerp Sportpaleis;

- the presence of many European and Belgian basketball legends like Antonio Martin, Ann Wauters, Tomas Van den Spiegel, Jean-Marc Jaumin, Ronny Bayer, Rik Samaey, Daniel Goethals, etc. (just to name a few) at the Antwerps Sportpaleis; 

- the proactive and excellent job done by prominent Belgian basketball writer and journalist Patrick Ceulemans who writes for daily newspapers Het Nieuwsblad as well as Gazet van Antwerpen and is also a faithful Eurobasket.com correspondent for the Belgian section -- he served as media relations officer during the whole weekend;

- at press row, I exchanged memories and opinions about the overall level of Belgian basketball with my neighbour Ludo Hendrickx who writes for Gazet van Antwerpen;

- the official program of the Basketball Champions League Final Four 2019 was very clear, concise and full of interesting information and articles about players, coaches, venues, teams, previous BCL editions, etc. and is freely available via the following link: http://www.fiba.basketball/final4/championsleague.pdf (source: FIBA).

Pictures: Steve Mitchell - USA Today Sports; gettyimages.com and Bert Larsimont