Kataja BC

Kataja
Leagues	Korisliiga
Founded	1949 (1949)
Arena	Joensuu Areena
Capacity	2,500
Location	Joensuu, Finland
Championships	2 Finnish Leagues 3 Finnish Cups
Retired numbers	1 (11)
Website	katajabasket.fi
Home Away

Kataja Basket Club is a professional basketball club of sports club Kataja from Joensuu, Finland. The team plays in the Korisliiga, the highest tier of Finnish basketball. In 2015, Kataja won its first national championship, after it beat Bisons Loimaa 3–2 in the Finnish Finals.

History

The basketball activity of the club started in 1955. In 1961, the team started playing in the Joensuu Sports Hall. The team started in provincial competitions, but quickly promoted to the national level in the 1960s. From 1976 till 1980, the team played continuously in the highest Finnish division. In the 2001–02 season, the team won its first trophy when it won the Finnish Cup. In 2015, the first championship of Kataja was realized after a 3–2 Finals series win against Bisons Loimaa. In the 2012–13 season, Kataja started participating in European competitions when it entered the EuroChallenge. The team immediately reached the quarterfinals of the competition, and has played in Europe every season since.

Achievements

• Korisliiga

Champions (2): 2014–15, 2016–17

• Finnish Cup

Champions (3): 2002, 2011, 2012

Players

Retired numbers

Kataja Basket Club retired numbers
No.	Player	Position	Tenure
11	Eero Oksava	G	1963–1980

Current roster

Kataja BC roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age C 1 Walters, Brandon 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 116 kg (256 lb) 29 – (1995-01-19)19 January 1995 G 2 Parviainen, Veeti 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 76 kg (168 lb) 22 – (2001-12-16)16 December 2001 PG 3 Ogungbemi-Jackson, Jarred 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 33 – (1991-08-11)11 August 1991 G 5 Mervola, Valtteri 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 67 kg (148 lb) 22 – (2002-01-12)12 January 2002 G 6 Herrala, Joni 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 30 – (1994-09-26)26 September 1994 SG 7 Leppänen, Valtteri 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 83 kg (183 lb) 27 – (1997-06-25)25 June 1997 PF 8 Ojala, Matias (C) 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 35 – (1989-07-20)20 July 1989 C 10 Vänttinen, Erik 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 23 – (2001-03-05)5 March 2001 F/C 12 Vanttaja, Samuli 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 105 kg (231 lb) 33 – (1991-04-22)22 April 1991 F 13 Kaltiainen, Juho 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 77 kg (170 lb) 22 – (2002-02-09)9 February 2002 G/F 22 Calhoun, Omar 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 30 – (1993-11-26)26 November 1993 SF 23 Bradley, Jarekious 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 33 – (1990-12-01)1 December 1990 SF 28 Alanen, Aapeli 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 28 – (1996-03-05)5 March 1996 SG 34 Pihlajamäki, Valtteri 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 75 kg (165 lb) 27 – (1997-03-26)26 March 1997 G 55 Aidoo, Fiifi 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 28 – (1996-04-05)5 April 1996	Head coach Juha Sten Assistant coach(es) Petri Virtanen Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 13 October 2019

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Daniel Mullings
• Andre Foreman
• Rion Brown
• Antti Kanervo
• Martti Kuisma
• Sami Laaksonen
• Jyri Lehtonen
• Pekka Markkanen
• Jukka Toijala
• Eero Oksava
• Sami Lehtoranta
• Petri Virtanen
• Teemu Rannikko

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Finnish Cup	European competitions
2010–11	1	Korisliiga	2nd	Champion
2011–12	1	Korisliiga	2nd	Champion
2012–13	1	Korisliiga	3rd		3 EuroChallenge	QF	6–8
2013–14	1	Korisliiga	2nd	—	3 EuroChallenge	RS	2–4
2014–15	1	Korisliiga	1st		3 EuroChallenge	RS	0–6
2015–16	1	Korisliiga	5th		3 FIBA Europe Cup	R32	5–7
2016–17	1	Korisliiga	1st		3 Champions League	RS	6–8
					4 FIBA Europe Cup	R16	0–2
2017–18	1	Korisliiga	6th		3 Champions League	QR3	1–1–2
					4 FIBA Europe Cup	R2	4–8
2018–19	1	Korisliiga	3rd

External links

• Official site (in Finnish)