Winners’ Cup Final 1998: Stombergas executes Stefanel Milan

In 1998, the Cup Winners’ Cup final was held in Belgrade, where Zalgiris Kaunas, after a long journey, once again won a continental title, clearly beating Stefanel Milan (82-67), thanks mainly to the magnificent afternoon that Stombergas had at the launch

Quarterfinals
ASVEL Villeurbanne – Stefanel Milan
Avtodor – Samara
Zalgiris Kaunas – BeoBanka
Panathinaikos – Wroclaw

Semi-finals
Panathinaikos – Stefanel Milan
Zalgiris Kaunas – Avotodor

After a period of glory during the 1980s under Arvydas Sabonis – which did not, however, lead to any continental trophies – Kaunas’ ‘Algiris’ regained (and never better) old laurels and won his first European title. And he did so thanks to the prodigious performance of Saulius ‘Tombergas, an old-fashioned rock eavesdropper with a pitch that was as unorthodox as it was effective. In the mere 29 minutes he was on the pitch, ‘Tombergas’ scored 35 points through a spectacular series of throws.

Zalgiris Kaunas 82
*Whatley – 19p, 2br
*Adomaitis – 6p, 3r
*Stombergas – 35p, 5a
*Praskevicius – 2p, 2r
*Arapovic – 3p, 10r
M.Zukauskas – 4p, 2r
Stumbrys – 0p, 1a
E.Zukauskas – 6p, 6r
Masiulis – 7p, 7r

Stefanel Milán 67
*Gentile – 10p, 3a
*Sigalas – 0p, 3r
*Portaluppi – 13p, 4r
*Kidd – 11p, 12r
*Bayley – 18p, 4r
Jovanovic – 6p, 2br
Ruggeri – 1p, 1br
Sahlstrom – 0p, 1br
Samburago – 8p, 1a
Cantarello – 0p, 1r