Cedevita Zagreb records three-peat of A1 titles

Cedevita Zagreb completed a clean sweep over city rival Cibona Zagreb to clinch the Croatian A1 league title for 2016. A 84-77 victory at home in Game 3 was enough to seal the league crown for another season and capped what has been an impressive final run for Cedevita.

The victory enhanced the position of Cedevita Zagreb as the growing dominant force in Croatian Basketball, this was the third consecutive A1 title the club has won. Those are the only three successes the club has had, breaking the hold Cibona had over the league for two decades.

The hosts took the first basket of the contest and never dropped the lead after that, moving to 19-8 in front before Cibona sparked into action with an 11-0 run that made it 30-30 on the scoreboard. A tied game was as good as it got for the visitors as Cedevita extended for the rest of the game, although Cibona was never really out of contention throughout. However, the hosts had carved a 71-61 lead by the close of thirty minutes and that double digit advantage proved the difference in the fourth act.

Miro Bilan has a huge game with a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds to pace Cedevita Zagreb, while Luka Babic was effective with his own double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, while also adding 5 assists to a well-rounded performance. Marko Arapovic scored 14 in the win, with Nemanja Gordic grabbing 12 points.

Ivan Siriscevic was the game high scorer with 22 points for Cibona Zagreb, followed by Nik Slavica with 10 points.