Partizan, Cibona grab wins in Adriatic
Three games capped off Round 14 of the Adriatic League’s 2015-16 regular season. Teams in the middle of the pack, such as BC Partizan NiS Beograd and KK Cibona Zagreb were among the winners on the last day. Bosnia’s Igokea and KK Cedevita Zagreb delivered an interesting overtime thriller of their own as well. The wins of Partizan and Cibona were of particular note as they altered their respective positions in the league standings.
Partizan vs. Metalac, 81-70
Partizan played on their home court and thanks to some solid sharpshooting from long range managed to hold off Metalac, 81-70. This marked the fifth win for Partizan and the eighth for Metalac. Both teams now have identical 5-8 slates, but because of the result of this game their position in the standings have switched. Partizan climbs to the eighth spot, while Metalac slides down to ninth.
It appears that Partizan has gotten over the hump of their early season struggles and have been cruising with some solid wins as of late. They established an early lead and managed to control the tempo of the game for most of its duration. The team sank 9-of-18 shots from downtown for an even 50% from that range. They maximized opportunities they got and were patient in finding the open man. Petar Aranitovic came up big for Partizan off the bench as he poured in 17 points in 20 minutes on the floor. He sank three triples and helped his team maintain their lead during key junctions in the game.
Cibona vs. Zadar, 74-65
This was a much needed win for Cibona. The team is at 5-9 and the win bumped them up to 11th place in the standings. This was an important spark for the team and hopefully will provide important momentum in order for them to string together some wins. While it was a great all-around effort by the team as a whole, a key factor in Cibona’s win was the double-double performance put forth by Marko Jagodic Kuridza, who scored 14 points and hauled in 11 rebounds. Cibona took good care of the ball this game, committing only four turnovers.
The remained close early, with Cibona managing a 41-40 lead at halftime. Their defense in the second half played a role in keeping Zadar’s offense in check. This allowed Cibona to slowly, but surely build on their advantage and eventually take home the win.
Here are the other results of Round 14
Igokea vs. Cedevita, 86-91 (OT)
MZT Skopje vs. Union Olimpija, 81-62
Krka Novo Mesto vs. Buducnost, 78-84
Sutjeska vs. Tajfun, 51-60