Big win in the race to semifinals

Cedevita Olimpija team achieved an important victory in the fight for a place in the playoffs in the 25th round of the ABA League away at Mornar from Bar. The Ljubljana team won the scalp of the Montenegrin team with the final result of 81:71.

The Ljubljana team directed revenge for December’s defeat on the floor of the Arena Stožice against Mornar Bar. In the 25th round of the regional championship, Jurica Golemec’s team recorded its 17th victory in the ABA League over direct rivals for the semi-finals of the competition with the result 81:71.

A hearty performance with plenty of courage in the decisive moments brought the team from the Dragon’s Nest a great victory on a demanding road trip on the Montenegrin coast. The decisive start of the meeting brought Golemac’s squad an early lead. In the continuation, the Dragons did not manage to distance themselves, but after a short dominance of the home team in the second quarter, they concluded the first half of the match with a  9: 2 run and went to the break in the lead (44:40).

For the rest of the match, the Ljubljana team did not allow the locals to take control of the game. In the defensive half, they managed to limit the performance of the most powerful attacking weapons of Mornar, but on the offense, they increased their advantage to ten points by the end of the match with a pragmatic and unified game and an effective shooting percentage for three points.

Kendrick Perry scored the most points among the Dragons, scoring 21, catching seven more rebounds and five assists. Jarrod Jones scored 19 points (4/6 for three). He was followed by Rion Brown, who finished the game with 17 points and five rebounds. Captain Jaka Blažič registered eight of them with seven rebounds, and Mikael Hopkins scored one point less.

The green-orange team will move from the Adriatic coast to Belgrade, where they will face the long-awaited clash of the 11th round of the ABA League with Crvena zvezda mts in the Aleksandar Nikolić Hall on Wednesday at 18:00 with a live TV broadcast at Arena Sport 1.

STATEMENTS AFTER THE GAME

Jurica Golemac, Head Coach of KK Cedevita Olimpija:
“Congratulations to the team for an important victory in a very tough match. The boys really worked hard on both sides of the court. We were collected and tried to attack in positions where we had a certain advantage. In defense, we responded perfectly to their best individuals, which was a challenging task. We have four rounds ahead of us and we will prepare for each match separately.”

Rion Brown, player of KK Cedevita Olimpija:
“We needed that bounce back win especially during this road trip. Our work is not finished we have an important game coming up and we want that top four.”

LIGA ABA, ROUND 25

Sports Hall Topolica (Bar, Montenegro), Sunday, April 11:
MORNAR BAR – CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA 71:81(20:23, 20:21, 18:20, 13:17)
Cedevita Olimpija: Radović, Perry 21 (7 rebounds, 5 assists), Hopkins 7, Duščak, Murić 2, Rupnik 5, Brown 17 (5 rebounds), Blažič 8 (7 rebounds), Hodžić (5 rebounds), Jones 19, Marinković 2, Dimec.

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GALLERY

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