RIGA — BC Ventspils last night took a significant step towards qualifying for the Euroleague basketball championship by defeating Benetton 78-73 in the first leg of their qualifying match-up.

For the first time this year, Euroleague has introduced a qualifying round which has opened up opportunities for basketball clubs who would not normally have the opportunity to showcase their skills in arguably Europe’s top club competition.

The qualifying round means Latvia has a strong possibility of being represented by a club for the first time. Neighbors Lithuania are typically represented in the competition by two teams every year.

Benetton from Italy were by far the more experienced of the two teams, with a number of their players having already played at this elite level before. Age-wise, the Italians were also more experienced with just one of Ventspils’ players, American import Aaron Pettway, aged over 25.

The young Ventspils roster is a strong reflection of the influence that youth basketball programs developed in the region in the past ten years are starting to have at the elite level, as their students begin to graduate.

After racing out to an early lead, Ventspils were pulled back by Benetton, a sequence that would repeat throughout the night. However, led by ‘veteran’ Pettway, Ventspils began to settle into their rhythm to build a healthy 10-point lead by the end of the first quarter (27-17).

The Latvians continued to let their lead build in the second period to be sitting in a position of complete dominance going into half-time (47-34). Coach Agris Galvonoski would have been happy with how his young team were handling potentially the biggest game of their lives.

The third quarter was a much tighter tussle than the two periods previous as the two teams began to match each other shot for shot. Pettway was letting his presence be known in all facets of the game with fluent shooting, big blocks and ample rebounds. Benetton prevailed for the period but still only managed to cut the lead to one (68-56) heading into the final quarter.

Galvonoski would not have been happy with how his troops fell away in the final quarter, allowing Benetton a sight of victory. Because qualification is decided by best points aggregate, it was important that Ventspils really used its home advantage, particularly in the final quarter.

However, the opposite was to occur as Benetton began to seriously cut into Ventspils’ lead. By the time the final whistle was blown, the lead had been whittled down to just five (78-73).

Nothing should be taken away from this young Ventspils side who were deserved of the win but they were perhaps not clinical enough nearing the end of the game.

Pettway completely stole the show bagging 20 points, 17 rebounds (13 offensive) and 3 blocks. Galvonoski will be hoping for a similar performance from his star performer in the return leg on Friday night.

Talking about his star player to euroleague.net after the game, Galvonoski said “Pettway made his shots and played well. If not for him, it would have been very difficult.”

He was also optimistic about only winning by five saying that to win by more would have perhaps given his team too much confidence going into the next game.