Adriatic League Round 7 action
The Adriatic League is now in full swing with Round 7 getting underway on Saturday evening with three games to open the week’s action. Partizan continued to improve with a home success, while Buducnost continued to trouble the top of the standings and Union Olimpija stayed steady.
Partizan NIS Belgrade vs. MZT Skopje Aerodrom, 65-50
Serbian powerhouse Partizan Belgrade continues to improve its fortunes after a terrible start to the season. The clubs’ latest success came at the expense of Skopje Aerodrom and the Belgrade based club now improves to a 3-4 record, while Skopje slips to 2-5.
The hosts struggled to get going through the first quarter and missed plenty of opportunities as they only scored 11 points through the stanza, losing the first 10 minutes 10-15. Skopje Aerodrom had started well, but in the second quarter the visitors found the going tougher as Partizan came back into the game to win the period 18-14. However, the away team still held the lead at halftime, the scoreboard reading 28-29. The third quarter proved vital to success for the Serbian contingent as they surged 21-11 through the act to wrestle control of the game, 49-40 through thirty minutes. Partizan took the fourth quarter 15-10 to cap an impressive second half performance that made the victory simple by the end.
Vanja Marinkovic topped Partizan NIS Belgrade with 20 points, the only player in the home roster to offer double digits through the bucket.
It was a similar story for Skopje as Damjan Stojanovski led the away team with 10 points.
Buducnost Voli Podgorica vs. Mega Vizura, 88-80
Buducnost kept its quality start to the Adriatic League going by gunning down Serbian club Mega Vizura at home. The Podgorica outfit now moves into second place in the league standings for the time being with a 6-1 record, while Vizura is still going well at 4-3.
The hosts started on fire and went big through the opening quarter, streaming in 27 points and holding Vizura to 19 points to hold control at the first split. Buducnost continued to look good on the hardwood by winning the second period 17-14, making it a double digit game at the long break, 44-33. The home team all but wrapped up victory through a comfortable third frame, taking the 10 minutes 18-14 to lead 62-47 with one quarter to go. Mega showed spirit aplenty in the final stanza to make it interesting with a big 26-33 charge, but Podgorica never looked unduly troubled.
Bojan Subotic paced the winners with 22 points, while Valdimir Dasic secured 18 points, J.R. Reynolds 14 points, and Aleksa Popovic offered 12.
Dusan Cantekin set the scoring rhythm for the losing effort with 17 points, backed up by Aleksander Marelja and Andrija Bojic with 14 points apiece.
KK Zadar vs. Union Olimpija Ljubljana, 60-67
Union Olimpija grabbed a winning record in the Adriatic League with the only road win of the evening. The Ljubljana giant travelled to Croatia and took out Zadar to move to 4-3 in the standings, while the home club continues to struggle with a 2-5 record.
Union Olimpija laid the perfect foundation with a first quarter performance that proved to be the difference by the end of regulation. The visitors went on a blistering 9-29 run to shock the Zadar faithful, not to mention the home players on the floor. Credit to the hosts, they rallied in the second quarter and took the act 26-15 to get back into the game, with the scoreboard reading 35-44 at the midway buzzer. The teams traded scores through the third quarter, going basket for basket and locking 11-11 through the ten minutes (46-55). Zadar threw everything at Ljubljana in the final section, and while they won the fourth quarter they could not turn the deficit that the away team had built in Q1.
Luka Rupnik topped the scoring for Union Olimpija Ljubljana with 18 points and was followed by Marko Marinovic with 12 points.
Josip Sobin scored 16 points for the defeated Zadar team, while Dornagoj netted 11 points.