A battle of the top against Igokea

Ljubljana’s Cedevita Olimpija traveled to Laktaši on Friday morning, where they will face Igokea in the 21st round of the ABA League on Saturday at 7 pm.

After the end of the 7DAYS EuroCup, Cedevita Olimpija will focus all its efforts on the ABA League and the Nova KBM League. Already on Saturday at 19.00, the people of Ljubljana will face the currently second-ranked Igokea basketball players in the derby at the top of the rankings of the 21st round of the regional competition in the Laktaši Sports Hall. The latter have the same number of victories after 19 matches played in the 2020/21 season as the Dragons (15), but at the expense of one match played more, also more defeats (4).

At the first mutual meeting of the two teams in Stožice, the victory with 103: 92 was celebrated by Cedevita Olimpija. Kendrick Perry (27 points, nine assists, five rebounds) and Jaka Blažič (22 points, six rebounds) shone in the green-orange jersey, while Antabia Waller was the top scorer with 17 points.

Ljubljana will try to recover after the defeat in Podgorica against Buducnost VOLI in the last match of the second part of the 7DAYS EuroCup. Unfortunately, the defeat against the Podgorica team also took away the hope of breaking into the quarterfinals of the competition. The Igokea basketball players were also active on the international stage on Tuesday, beating the home team VEF Riga 91:75 in Riga, thus recording their first away victory in the Champions League. Anthony Clemmons and Edin Atić contributed 23 points each.

STATEMENTS AHEAD OF THE GAME:

Jurica Golemac, head coach of Cedevita Olimpija:
“Ahead of us is a derby of the round in the ABA Leage with Igokea, and the match is important for both of us and extremely demanding for us. Our opponents play great basketball, they are very well prepared tactically, and they combine different ideas in defense. We have to prepare well, play much more aggressively and physically and show a good defensive performance if we want to return to Ljubljana with a new victory.”

Luka Rupnik, player of Cedevita Olimpija:
“We have another in a series of difficult matches ahead of us. In Laktaši, matches are traditionally very demanding, especially in physical terms. Igokea has a tall, solid and physical team. In Ljubljana, we won the first match after overtime, and we are going there to get a new victory. We know what awaits us, and I believe that the coaching staff will prepare us well for the game.”

ABA LEAGUE, ROUND 21

ŠD Laktaši (Laktaši, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Saturday, March 13, at 19.00:
IGOKEA – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA

STANDINGS: