Keravnos B.C.

Keravnos
Leagues Cyprus Basketball Division A
Founded 1926 (1926)
History Keravnos B.C.
(1926–present)
Arena Costas Papaellinas Arena
Arena Capacity 2,000
Location Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus
Team colors Yellow and Red
President Paris Papaellinas
Vice-president(s) Andreas Kyprianou
Head coach Christoforos Livadiotes
Championships 6 Cypriot Championships
9 Cypriot Cups
Website www.keravnosbc.com
Uniforms
Home
Away

Keravnos Strovolou B.C. (Greek: Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Στροβόλου «Ο Κεραυνός») is a professional basketball club based in Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus. The plays its home games in the Costas Papaellinas Arena, which has a capacity of 2,000 spectators.

The club’s president since 1996 is businessman Paris C. Papaellinas, who has also been the main sponsor of the club for the last 20 years[1].

History

The men's basketball department of Keravnos was established in 1964. The club was one of the founding members of the Cyprus Basketball Federation in 1966.

Keravnos competed for 18 consecutive years in European competitions from 1995 to 2013. The first time Keravnos B.C. took part in European competitions was in 1982, when the team played against KK Zadar. In the 1997–98 season the team reached the second round of a European Cup for the first time. In the Second Round, Keravnos achieved one of their greatest victories in the history of Cypriot Basketball after defeating Žalgiris Kaunas 61-57 in Nicosia. In the second leg, they lost at Kaunas and were eliminated from the competition. Žalgiris progressed to win the European Cup that year (1998) as well as the European Championship the following year (1999), known as Euroleague.

The year 2001 was a great one for Keravnos. The team won the Championship for a second consecutive time and also recorded the greatest success that had ever been achieved by any Cypriot sports team, in Pan-European competitions by qualifying for the quarter-finals of the European Saporta Cup. They defeated the Bosnian team KK Borac Banja Luka, before they were eliminated by Pamesa Valencia. During this campaign, the team had unbelievable success defeating Red star of Belgrade and Paris Basket of Tony Parker among others. In 2004, the team qualified to the Final Four of South Conference of FIBA Europe Cup Challenge, where the team finished fourth in the competition. They qualified to the final four again the following year (2005) and this time they finished in the third position. In 2007, Keravnos again recorded a new success story. The team qualified for the final of the EuroCup Challenge after beating in the semi-finals Dnipro twice in the semi-finals. Keravnos was the only Cypriot club from any sport ever to reach a major European Final. In the EuroCup Challenge Final, Keravnos faced the Russian Club from Samara, defeating them by 85-83 at home but the score was not enough to give the team the trophy after losing in Samara 101-81 away.

Players

Current roster

Keravnos B.C. Roster 2016-17
Players Coaches
Pos. Νο. Nat. Name Ht. Age
G 24 United States Barker, Kenny 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 31 – (1986-06-11)11 June 1986
G 9 Cyprus Neophytou, Georgios 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 33 – (1983-12-18)18 December 1983
PF 34 Somalia Abukar, Mohamed 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 32 – (1985-01-01)1 January 1985
C 99 Cyprus Stavrinides, Pavlos 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 17 – (1999-10-01)1 October 1999
PG 13 Cyprus Michael, Simon 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 24 – (1992-09-19)19 September 1992
PF 14 Cyprus Theocharides, Georgios (C) 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 32 – (1985-06-04)4 June 1985
SF 15 Cyprus Stylianou, Nikolaos 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 28 – (1988-11-09)9 November 1988
G 20 Cyprus Markou, Panagiotis 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) 21 – (1996-02-01)1 February 1996
C 43 United States Parks, Terell Allen 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 26 – (1991-02-25)25 February 1991
PG 2 Cyprus Andreou, Orestis 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 19 – (1998-07-24)24 July 1998
Head coach
  • Cyprus Christoforos Livadiotes
Assistant coaches
  • Cyprus Michael Matsentides
  • Cyprus Alexis Zachariou
Team Manager
  • Greece Angelos Papademetriou
Club President
  • Cyprus Paris Papaellinas
Legend
  • (C) Team captain

Notable players

Honours

Men's

Women's

The Women's basketball division was established in 1987 and participates in the Cyprus Basketball Federation competitions ever since. The Women's basketball team competes in the Basketball League - First division, where it has enjoyed considerable success and has also represented Cyprus in European competitions. In 1992, the team qualified for the Cyprus Cup Final for the first time but lost by two points to Olympiada. The women won their first Championship in 1994, and then went on to win the championship for three consecutive years. From season 1998/99 and up until 2005, they dominated the Cypriot basketball winning the double and the Super Cup every year, apart from the Championship in 2003 which was won by AEL.

Basketball academies

Since 1987, the club is focused nearly 100% in basketball and Keravnos Basketball Academies are considered as being the most dynamic and the most professional all over the island. Currently, the Basketball Academy has over 300 members and overall with Tennis and Football reach over 750 members. Head of the Academy is Mr. Nicos Lambrias.

References

  1. ↑ Pro ball overseas, Evin Demirel (ArkansasOnline), 22 September 2009. Accessed 30 April 2017
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.