Keravnos B.C.

Keravnos Strovolos Κεραυνός Στροβόλου
Leagues	Cyprus Basketball Division 1
Founded	1926 (1926)
History	1926-present
Arena	Costas Papaellinas Arena (capacity: 2,000)
Location	Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus
Team colors	Yellow and Red
President	Paris Papaellinas
Head coach	Panayiotis Yiannaras (CYP)
Championships	5 Cypriot Championships 9 Cypriot Cups
Website	www.keravnosbc.com
Uniforms
Home Away

Keravnos Strovolos (Greek:Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Στροβόλου Κεραυνός) is one of the powerhouses of Cypriot basketball. Founded in 1926, it is based in the Nicosia suburb of Strovolos. In the past, the club also had a football team.

History

The Men's basketball division was established in 1964.^[1] The club was one of the founding members of the Cyprus Basketball Federation. With several top trophies to be proud of, they have had a considerable presence in European competitions. Several of Keravnos' players have been selected for the men's Cyprus national basketball team. Their home is Keravnos Indoor Hall with a crowd capacity of 2,000.

The team won the first trophies for the club in 1989 and 1997 by winning the Double in those two seasons and also won the cup for three consecutive times in 1997 until 1999.

European Campaigns

For first time, they competed in European competitions in 1982, however they did not wait until 1997/98 to reach the Second Round of a European Cup, passing the groups as second, eliminating teams like the French Champions, Paris Basket Racing. In the Second Round they achieved one of the gloriest victories of Cypriot Basketball, after beating in Nicosia, Zalgiris Kaunas 61-57, which won the trophy at the end of the competition, however they were eliminated after the defeat in the second leg with 40-73. They went until the second round as well the following season

The year 2001, was glorious for Keravnos. They did not only win the Championship for second consecutive time but they achieved the greatest success that had ever achieved by any Cypriot sports team, until that time, in Pan-European competitions by qualifying to the quarter finals of the European Saporta Cup, after eliminating the Bosnian Borac Banja Luka, where they were eliminated by Pamesa Valencia.

In 2004, the team competed in the Final Four of South Conference of FIBA Europe Cup Challenge, however the team remained fourth in the competition. They competed in the final four again the following year and gained that time the third position after beating in the Third position final Apollon Limassol.

In 2007, Keravnos again achieved a new club success. The qualified to the final of the EuroCup Challenge after beating in the semi finals BC Dnipro twice in Cyprus and Ukraine. Being the first Cypriot sports team to compete in a Pan-European final (EKA AEL was the first in an FIBA Europe regional final), they beat Samara 85-83 at home in Keravnos Stadium. However, the score was not enough to give the team the trophy after losing in Samara 101-81.

Roster

Keravnos Strovolou Roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. Νο. Nat. Name Ht. 1.0 !PG 4 SRB ! Ocokoljic, Sasa 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 1.5 !G 5 UK ! Hart, Jarrett 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 1.5 !G 6 CYP ! Pilavas, Andreas 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 4.0 !F 7 CYP ! Razis, Christopher 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 2.5 !G/F 8 USA ! Smith, Bryant 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 1.0 !PG 9 NED ! Jones, Sam 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 6.0 !C 10 CYP ! Trisokkas, Panayiotis 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 1.5 !G 11 USA ! Cooper, Lonnie 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 5.5 !F/C 12 BIH ! Damjanović, Aleksandar 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 5.5 !F/C 14 CYP ! Zachariou, Alexis 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 6.0 !C 15 CYP ! Garcia, JoJo 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 3.0 !SF PUR ! Lee, Carmelo 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 2.0 !SG CRO ! Vidakovic, Domagoi 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	Head coach Memos Ioannou Assistant coach(es) Panayiotis Yiannaras Legend (C) Team captain

• Vonteego Cummings

Notable former players

Honours

• FIBA EuroCup Challenge
  • Finalist (1): 2007
• Cyprus Basketball Division 1
  • Winner (5): 1988-89, 1996–97, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2007–08
  • Runner Up (5): 1997-98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05
• Cyprus Men's Basketball Cup:
  • Winner: (9) 1988-89, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10
  • Runner-up: ?
• Cyprus Men's Basketball Supercup
  • Winner (2): 1999, 2000.

Women's team

The Women's basketball division competes in the Cyprus Women's Basketball League - First division, where it has also enjoyed considerable success and has also represented Cyprus in European competitions. They compete in Cyprus Basketball Federation competitions since 1987.

For first time in 1992, the team qualified to the Cyprus Cup Final but because of two points, the team was beaten by Olympiada. Winning their first Championship in 1994, they went on to win it for three consecutive years. Since the season 1998/99 and until 2005, they dominate the Cypriot basketball winning every year the double and the Super Cup, except the Championship in 2003 which was won by AEL.

Honours

• Cyprus Basketball Women's League – Division 1
  • Winner (9): 1993-94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001-01, 2001–02.
• Cyprus Women's Basketball Cup:
  • Winner: (7) 1998-99, 1999–2000, 2001-01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05
• Cyprus Women's Basketball Supercup
  • Winner (7): 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

Football

The football division was originally formed in 1926. The team has had its ups and downs over the years, where it mostly featured in the second and third divisions. However it achieved promotion to the first division in 1979 and remained there until 1982. During those years, in 1980-81, Keravnos achieved a historical victory against AC Omonia with a score 3-2. They were promoted again and competed in the first division for the 1988-89 season.

However due to lack of funds, in the 1991 annual meeting, the club decided to suspend the football division indefinitely and to focus efforts on developing the basketball team.

Honours

• Cypriot Second Division
  • Winners (2): 1978-79, 1987–88

References

External links

• Official homepage
• Keravnos on eurobasket.com