The competition starts with 21 teams, which will have to pass two previous rounds in a roundtrip format, after which there will be 8 survivors who will play the quarterfinals. ASK Riga was exempted from playing these rounds
In the previous round
The Antwerpse eliminated the KTP
Poznan eliminated the Brno
The Honved eliminated the Bucharest
Charleville eliminated Real Madrid
The OKK eliminated the AEK
Al-Gezira eliminated Olimpia Milan
The Akademik eliminated the Maccabi
The quarter-finals were played in a round-robin format and pitted POZNAN against ANTWERPSE, ASK RIGA against HONVED, OKK against CHARLEVILLE and AKADEMIK against AL-GEZIRA.
QUARTER-FINALS
Poznan eliminated the Antwerpse (80-89); (105-61)
ASK Riga eliminated the Honved (79-54); (88-80)
The OKK eliminated the Charleville (75-73); (87-74)
The Akademik eliminated the Al-Gezira (65-69); (2-0)
In the semi-finals, ASK RIGA took on POZNAN and AKADEMIK took on OKK, also in a round-robin format.
SEMIFINALS
ASK Riga eliminated Poznan (69-90); (84-76)
The Akademik eliminated the OKK (79-69); (94-77)
The Riga left totally sentenced the title in the first leg of the final. The Akademik with a great game of Radev could only stay close to the score until the break (35-33). At the restart Krumins started to impose his relentless law on the zones and Riga started to get their speed up. An unruly Akademik could not contain his opponent’s attacking flow and the distances began to get too big. In the end the result was 79-58, a difference that left Riga almost virtually champions.
ASK RIGA 79
*V.Muiznieks – 10p, 1r.
*Hehts – 6p, 3r.
*G.Muiznieks – 19p, 4r.
*Jankovskis – 8p, 3r.
*Krumins – 25p, 13r.
Valdmanis – 4p, 1r.
Gulbis – 7p, 3r.
AKADEMIK 58
*Semov – 4p, 2r.
*L.Panov – 11p, 2r.
*G.Panov – 6p, 6r.
*Lazarov – 5p, 7r.
*Radev – 20p, 8r.
Stoimenov – 4p.
Ilov – 8p, 2r.
Despite Riga’s Armijas Sporta Klubs’ 21-point lead from the first leg, nearly 20,000 people gathered at the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia in the hope of a miracle and a repeat of last year’s European Cup final. In the end it was not to be, although the Akademik managed to leave the pitch with dignity, because throughout the entire match it was about you to the powerful Soviet team. From the start of the game, the Bulgarians launched a frantic attack, with a zone defence that encouraged rapid counter-attacks, and this led them to an eight-point lead after four minutes (9-1). However, after a time-out by Aleksandr Gomel’skij, ASK applied themselves with more intensity in defence and more patience in attacking the Bulgarian zone, and after managing to equalise the score (15-15) the match entered a dynamic of greater equality and the draws followed one another constantly on the scoreboard, until they reached 65-65 with two minutes to go, with which, yes, the locals lowered their arms definitively. Taking advantage of the deflation of the Bulgarian team in the last stages of the match, ASK could even get the final victory thanks to two magnificent baskets of Valdis Muižnieks (67-69).
AKADEMIK 67
*Semov – 5p.
*L.Panov – 12p, 2r.
*G.Panov – 8p, 2r.
*Lazarov – 4p, 4r.
*Radev – 22p, 10r.
Stoimenov – 4p, 2r.
Ilov – 12p, 3r.
ASK RIGA 69
*V.Muiznieks – 7p, 2r.
*Hehts – 6p, 2r.
*G.Muiznieks – 6p, 3r.
*Jankovskis – 2p, 5r.
*Krumins – 29p, 14r.
Valdmanis – 7p, 2r.
Gulbis – 12p, 1r.