A successful revenge against Trento

Playful offensive display and though defensive performance brought Cedevita Olimpija an 87:65 win over Dolomiti Energia Trento in the Round 9 of 7DAYS EuroCup.

Cedevita Olimpija faced Dolomiti Energia Trento in the Round 9 game of 7DAYS EuroCup, a team that already qualified for the next stage of the competition. For the Ljubljana team, the game against a squad from Lega Basket Serie A was the first one after the game against Igokea in November and at the same time the first of three home games this week.

Improving in respect to the last matchup between these two teams, Cedevita Olimpija opened the game with a confident performance on offense where they created a lot of open shots for two points which they converted with high efficiency. On the defensive end of the floor, Jurica Golemac’s team contained fast breaks of the away team, which relied on the shots from the distance. They scored 15 out of 35 points in the first half from the three-point land. Until half of the second quarter, the teams exchanged in the lead a couple of times but an offensive run directed by Rion Brown, Kendrick Perry, and Jaka Blažič brought Dragons a nine-point lead before the half.

Cedevita Olimpija built on the promising performance from the first half and improved their game as the game went on. Between 25th and 32nd minute, Dragons made an amazing 20:0 run which sealed the game. The biggest lead of the game was achieved four minutes before the last sound of the buzzer at 83:48 and the game in Stožice finished with a score of 87:65. Dragons won the rebound battle and also had four more assists than their opponents. Luka Rupnik contributed to the great scoring performance by achieving his first points after the return to the team from Stožice. He finished the game with two points and two rebounds.

Jaka Blažič gave the opponents a headache with 15 points. Kendrick Perry scored 14 points to go alongside seven assists, Jarrod Jones also had 14 points and eight rebounds. Rion Brown recorded 13 points and five rebounds. Edo Murić (8 points), Mikael Hopkins (7 points, 6 rebounds), and Alen Hodžić (5 points) also added their contributions.

Cedevita Olimpija will return to the floor of Arena Stožice on Thursday, December 10 at 18:30, when they will play Promitheas Patras in the delayed round five game of 7DAYS EuroCup. Ljubljana team will also play the squad from Peloponnese in their last game of the 7DAYS EuroCup group stage which will take place on December 16 on 17:30. Both of the European games will be live on Šport TV.

STATEMENTS AFTER THE GAME

Jurica Golemac, Head Coach of Cedevite Olimpije: 
“Congratulations to the guys. We had enough time to prepare. We did a good job controlling the defensive boards in the second half which was their biggest threat. We gained confidence after making some open shots and brought the game to a calm finish.”

Jaka Blažič, player of Cedevite Olimpije: 
“We are a step closer to our goal, making the top 16 stages of 7DAYSEuroCup. We expected a though game. Trento is a difficult team that showed some great performances this season and was on top of our group before this game. They play great defense, however, we also played terrific defense tonight and deserved to win. I think the game against Promitheas Patras, who are our main competitors, will be even more important. I believe that we will recover and get ready for the game against them.” 

7DAYS EuroCup, 9. ROUND

Arena Stožice (Ljubljana), Tuesday, December 8:
CEDEVITA OLIMPIJA – DOLOMITI ENERGIA TRENTO 87:65 (20:21, 24:14, 26:9, 17:21)
Cedevita Olimpija: Radović, Perry 14 (7 assists), Hopkins 7 (6 rebounds), Murić 8, Ukić 4, Blažič 15, Brown 13 (5 rebounds), Hodžić 5, Jones 14 (8 rebounds), Dimec 2, Marinković 3, Rupnik 2.

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GALLERY

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