Pärnu basketball chief after loss to Keila: The picture is shaky and one foreign player raises questions

Pärnu's heavily rebuilt basketball team began its season with a convincing win, but the Viru Cup ended with a defeat to Keila KK and fresh questions about the squad's condition.

As it did a year ago, Kristjan Evart's team used the tournament at Rakvere Sports Hall to test itself against hosts Kadrina Karud and the Estonian-Latvian joint league side Keila KK. Pärnu had little trouble in the opening game against the lower-division Karud, taking a 15-point lead by halftime before finishing with an 85-62 victory.

Latvian center Klavs Dubults was Pärnu's leading scorer. He produced a double-double, scoring 16 points and collecting 12 rebounds in 19 minutes. Captain Mihkel Kirves added 15 points, while Finland's Joona Heinonen and Ukraine's Illia Sydorov scored 14 each. Georgian forward Tsotne Tsartsidze, the team's latest frontcourt addition, contributed 12.

Hendrik Eelmäe, who underwent knee surgery during the summer, was given a day off. The other 11 players shared the workload relatively evenly, with no one playing more than 25 minutes.

The result marked a change from last year, when Pärnu returned from the Viru Cup with a clean record. This time, the summer capital's team had to acknowledge Keila's superiority in the final. The loss left Evart describing the team's overall picture as shaky and questioning the contribution of at least one foreign player.