Cedevita topples Buducnost in Adriatic League
The four remaining games of Round 25 of the regular season in the Adriatic League took place yesterday and fans were treated to a sneak peak into what could be considered a Playoff preview. Two of the league’s Top 4 teams collided in some exciting action. Second ranked KK Buducnost Voli Podgorica travelled to Zagreb, Croatia to face fourth-placer KK Cedevita Zagreb. The white shirts rallied and overcame a massive 28-point game from Buducnost’s Boris Savovic to prevail 80-70. Miro Bilan paced Cedevita with 20 points and six assists and was one of five white shirts to score in double figures. Cedevita scored in close range and took control of the paint, forcing the blue shirts to get their points from the outside. In the end, Cedevita’s depth played a key role in the game’s outcome with their reserves outperforming Buducnost’s in pivotal stretches. The loss drops Buducnost to 18-7, a tie with BC Partizan. Cedevita, now 17-8, still holds steady in steady in fourth spot.
Partizan came away with an easy 87-53 win over KK Zadar. Zadar started off strong and established an early lead in the first quarter, but Partizan replied with some excellent offense in the second and third periods, rolling over their guests and they did not look back. New addition Josh-Emmanuel Akognon came up big for Partizan with 16 points. Josip Sobin was the only player from Zadar notch double digits in points with his 16 points and was arguably their lone bright spot.
Top ranked Crvena Zvezda Telekom Beograd unsurprisingly took down Bosnian club BC Igokea Aleksandrovac on the road, 80-85. It was no walk in the park though as imports Jonathan Jones and Brady Heslip took it to Red Star and combined for 35 points in the contest. It took a very efficient game from Maik Zirbes to lift the red shirts to victory. He tied Heslip for a game-high 18 points. The result of the game itself has no bearing on Playoff seedings as Red Star is already locked in to finish the regular season with the top seed.
Both MZT Skopje Aerodrom and KK Cibona VIP Zagreb may be out of the postseason hunt, but both clubs managed to come up with some spirited play during their encounter. MZT Skopje managed to edge Cibona 78-65 for the upset. Solid all-around team effort from MZT Skopje boosted them to eventually secure a notch on their win column. MZT Skopje is in second to the last place in the standings with their 7-18 record, while Cibona drops to 9-16 and are in 11th position.