Flamengo is one game away from lifting the LDO (Olympic Development League) trophy – the Brazilian Under-21 Basketball Championship. The team from Gávea beat Brasília on Thursday night (December 28.12) at the Tijuca gymnasium by 67 to 57 and only needs to beat Bauru to take the title. The match will be played tomorrow (December 29.12) at 21 pm at the Tijuca gymnasium.

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The red-black highlight was power forward Fred Duarte who achieved another double-double in the competition with 25 points and 15 rebounds, in addition to achieving 78.57% free throw success.

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"Overcoming was the word of the game. The team is very united and that helped a lot to achieve this victory and this double-double. I thought I hadn't even achieved it," he celebrated.

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Brasília started ahead and opened up a 5-point lead. However, the fast Gegê started the red-and-black comeback, which didn't let them off easy, closing the gap and turning the game around soon after with a good performance by Fred Duarte, the "Varejinho" (21-19). In the second quarter, Flamengo got more in tune and opened up a good lead on the scoreboard: 33-26.

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After halftime, Flamengo came back stronger and took a 10-point lead. The defense tightened up, but the three-pointers struggled to fall. Brasília came closer, but couldn't take the lead from Flamengo (45-39).

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The final quarter started tensely, as both teams had a chance to win. The Gávea boys, however, managed to control their nerves and, cheered on by the crowd, secured a spot in the final with a healthy 67-57 lead.

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At the end of the match, Flamengo coach Paulo Chupeta pointed out that he already has a strategy in place to emerge champion in tomorrow's game.

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"Bauru is a very strong team, but we have aces up our sleeves to win this game. We need to maintain our emotional balance and manage each quarter calmly to come away with the victory," he declared.

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They started: Gegê (15), Alexandre (7), Fred Duarte (25), Rodrigo Lopes (10) and Diego (4).
Entered: Ricardo Bampa (6), Daniel Lorio (-) and Gabriel (-).