Home-court defeat after 335 days

The home-court winning streak of Cedevite Olimpije ended after exactly 335 days. Dragons had to admit an 88:93 defeat to Mornar Bar in Round 12 of ABA League.

Cedevita Olimpija was back on the court of Arena Stožice after an 11-day break from competitions and the night ended with the second loss of 2020/21 ABA League season. Mornar Bar won 93:88 and recorded their ninth win in the regional championship.

Ljubljana’s Dragons opened the game against the opponents from the Adriatic coast with the worst quarter of the season and got up to an 18-point gap behind the away team. A big point difference presented a difficult starting point ahead of the remaining three quarters but not a reason to surrender. Ljubljana team stock started rising in the second quarter and Jurica Golemac’s squad, like many times this season, showed the best performance after the half-time break. In the middle of the third quarter, the home team was only six points behind the traveling club but did not have enough power and time to perform a total comeback. Mornar, lead by Jacob Pullen who had 36 points, celebrated their victory at the sound of the last buzzer with a five-point difference.

Jaka Blažič continued with his terrific scoring performances. Against the guests from Bar, he had 24 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Kendrick Perry collected 17 points, who was followed by Rion Brown with 14 points and seven rebounds. Jarrod Jones recorded 11 points, Mikael Hopkins scored nine points.

Cedevita Olimpija will play their last game of 2020 in Belgrade, where they will face FMP on Wednesday at 21:0. Dragons will also play their first game of the upcoming year in the Serbian capital. On January 2, they will clash with Mega Soccerbet in New Belgrade.

IZJAVI PO TEKMI:

Jurica Golemac, trener Cedevite Olimpije: 
“We did not have a good start to the game. This was the second game that we opened with not enough aggression on the defense and thinking too much about the offense. Our opponents were more energetic. Their aggressive defense helped them to get going on offense. We did not manage to catch their lead until the end of the match. However, basketball is a sport in which you have to look forward. Our next game is in three days and we have to do better. In three quarters we showed that we can fight with opponents of this quality. First-quarter was horrible but we have to believe in ourselves, continues to work and get better every day.”

Rion Brown, player of Cedevita Olimpija: 
“We did not get off to a good start. We were trying to fight to get our way back to the game but when you let a team get that good that early that gives them confidence and it is hard to stop them. I liked our fight at the end of the game, we kept playing but it is going to be a long week for us though. We have to go finish two more games this week. In the first half, they had more energy than us. They came out really aggressive and we were a bit timid and it showed. The main thing for us is starting the game aggressive and plaing like that for 40 minutes.”

Liga ABA, ROUND 12

Arena Stožice (Ljubljana), Sunday, December 27:
CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA – MORNAR BAR 88:93 (15:33, 23:22, 26:19, 24:19)
Cedevita Olimpija: Radović, Perry 17, Hopkins 9 Murić 5, Ukić 2, Blažič 24 (9 rebounds, 5 assists), Hodžić, Jones 11, Dimec, Brown 14 (7 rebounds), Marinković 2 (5 rebounds), Rupnik 4.

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