Basketball | Finals of Albanian “Republic Cup” in 1972!

“Partizani”, winner of the Republic Cup in 1972!

6-participants, 5-pretenders!

The finals of the Republic Cup in Basketball for men, which were played in the sports palace of the city of Shkodra, from August 23 – 27, were the 16th edition of this important activity in this sport.

The participants of this cup, with the exception of Dinamo and Skanderbeg, were winners of the previous editions of the cup. Thus 3 times Partizani; Vllaznia on November 17 and 2 times from Lokomotiva e Durres.

ODYSSEY OF THE CUP

Sports fans from Shkodra witnessed a strong, beautiful and correct sports fight, and from the vicissitudes of how the meetings took place, they felt a variety of deep sports emotions. So from the first meeting until the last day, the fate of the cup was still unknown.

Especially its 5 claims: Partizani; Vllaznia; 17 Nentori; Skenderbeu; Lokomotiva, mobilized at the peak, brought out a lot of worries and emotions from each other, the judges and the many sports fans. The meeting between Partizan 17 Nentori, the first of the first day, was not the only beautiful, strong meeting and it did not determine the fate of the cup as usual. It was played with great rivalry, remaining undefined until the last seconds of the game.

The first half ends in favor of 17 Nentori 36-33. In the 29th minute, they takes an advantage of 8 points and it is precisely at these moments that Shehu leaves the field prematurely. The champions of Partizan maneuver skillfully, quickly equalize the result and even take the advantage, leading even with a small difference, but until the end. The game ends with the result 64-62.

While the other meetings of this day Vllaznia – Skenderbeu and Lokomotiva – Dinamo are won by the former.

After a modest presentation the day before (lost to Vllaznia 58-90), the second day Skanderbeu wins against Partizan. The champions massively activated the new element.

The first half ends for them 31-28. Partizan starts the second half like this again, while the result remains balanced. Around the 30th minute, the champion team activates the best five, but, as the development of the game showed, then it was too late, because the Korcar`s team was morally higher and developing a game on the rise.

In the last seconds, the result was equal and Skanderbeu almost did not increase the quota of points. In the extra time of 5 minutes, they score one point more than the champions (10-9) winning the whole meeting with the result 66-65!

On this day, the Vllaznia-Lokomotiva match was very strong and in the end it was won by the locals with a score of 72-60 (31-26). 17 Nentori, beats Dinamo 72-67.

The third day brought back interesting meetings, Vllaznia fought with all its strength against Partizan. The first half ends equal 35-35. In the second half, as a result of a high pace imposed by the Partisan champions, the locals make mistakes, especially the poor functioning of their sniper Vorfa.

Partizan, through Dheri e Boshnjaku, scores accurately from half-width. The match was won by Partizan with a difference of four points, 68-64.

On this day, Skenderbeu won another game, this time against Dinamo 73-52, while 17 Nentori defeated Lokomotiv 68-58.

The 4th day brought yet another upheaval, this time in the meeting Vllaznia – 17 Nentori. Although after the strong meetings (with Lokomotive and Partizan), the team from Shkodra came mobilized and led by its starter Vorfa, making a very good performance.

The first half ends in Shkodran’s favor 33-23. During the development of the game, the advantage still increases. In the midst of a great anxiety of the Shkodran public, Vllaznia plays successfully, even though they exit the game due to the effect of completing the five personnel of its five starters. It keeps the lead with points and despite all the efforts of the tyrants, the fate of the game does not change. Vllaznia thus wins the decisive match for the second place with the result 61-56.

On this day Lokomotiva won against Skenderbeu and Partizan against Dinamo.

On the 5th day of the meetings, the following results were achieved: Partizani-Lokomotiva 86-64 / Vllaznia – Dinamo 68-48 / 17 Nentori – Skenderbeu 100-73.

In the end, this order of classification was reached:

Partizani wins the 1972 edition of the cup, which is also the winner of the champion title for the 1971-1972 season.

The second place, Vllaznia with equal points (but seeing that the direct challenge between them was won by Partizan), and next in 3rd place 17 Nentori, 4th Lokomotiva, 5th Skenderbeu and finally Dinamo.

The best scorers were: Terova (Skenderbeu) 117 points; Shaka 112 and Vorfa 111 points. In the survey conducted with the coaches of the participating teams, Refik Vorfa (Vllaznia) was selected as the best player of the cup. Partizan deserved the cup and this was the merit of the whole team as well as coach Astrit Greva

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