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Suffering pangs of Argrett

Děčín star hands USK Praha critical loss

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
October 31st, 2007 issue

It’s quite possible Damien Argrett wrapped up his basketball team’s evening Oct. 28 by stowing all their gear, picking up a dozen to-go dinners and driving the team bus back to Děčín, north Bohemia.
After all, the 6-foot-6-inch forward took what promised to be a tight contest between two squads on winning streaks and turned it into a one man show. He scored 25 points, dragged down 13 rebounds and carried the visitors to an 80–76 win over USK Praha.
“I just took what they gave me,” Argrett said after the game. “It was my time to step up.”
USK Praha held a 21–14 advantage at the end of the first quarter, thanks largely to physical play by Roderick Platt and Lukáš Kotas’ hustle. Then the home squad hit a dry spell, allowing Děčín to storm back behind Pavel Houška, Pavel Miloš and, of course, Argrett. Děčín led 37–34 at the break.
The second half belonged to Argrett. Each time the home squad attempted to rally, he was there to answer. With 4:44 remaining in the game, Kotaš forced a turnover and found Lucious Wagner alone at the top of the key. Wagner’s jumper put USK back on top, 64–63. Moments later, Argrett flipped the score again in Děčín’s favor.
Then, after Platt muscled his way into the paint for two, closing Prague’s deficit to one point with 2:10 to go, Kotaš’ errant inbound pass found its way into Argrett’s hands, leading Děčín to widen their lead to 72–69.
“We started off good,” said Wagner. “We just made turnovers at critical points in the game.”
Four Prague starters put double digits on the board. Platt scored 17; Kotaš had 16 points, eight of which came in his frenzied first period. Wagner added 15 and the big man, center Muris Andelija, scored 10 points and hauled in seven rebounds.
But Andelija was no match for Děčín, which out rebounded USK Praha 43–27 and dominated the offensive glass.
“We had every opportunity to win,” said USK head coach Ken Scalabroni. “We couldn’t guard Argrett. That’s the bottom line.”
A win would have moved Prague’s long-suffering NBL franchise into the league’s top five. Argrett’s efforts instead dropped USK into a three-way tie for seventh place.
To make matters worse, Prague faces the league’s three top teams over a brutal 11-day stretch, visiting Nový Jičín on Halloween night, returning home to face last year’s champion, Nymburk, Nov. 3, then traveling to Prostějov on Nov. 10.
February 2003 was the last time USK beat Nymburk. But Scalabroni remains optimistic.
“There’s no denying we have weaknesses,” he said. “But nobody’s blown us out, and any team can be beaten.”

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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