2005-06Regular SeasonRound 10
January 12, 2006 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 FERNANDO BUESA ARENA
The difference between first and last place in Group A was clearer than ever as Tau Ceramica blasted visiting Union Olimpija 91-63 on Thursday to put one foot in the Top 16. Tau blasted off early and never looked back as it dominated despite playing four of its starters under 20 minutes each. Tau raised its record to 7-3, good for a continuing first-place tie with Zalgiris. Olimpija fell to 2-9 and is as virtually out of the Top 16 as Tau is in it. Casey Jacobsen led the winners with 18 points, while Tiago Splitter had 17, Luis Scola 12 and Roko-Leni Ukic 10. For Olimpija, Syzmon Szewczyk returned from injury with 13 points. Dragisa Drobjnak had 11, Vedran Morovic and Demarco Johnson 10 each.

Olimpija needed more than 2 minutes to collect its first point thanks to a free throw by Hazan Rizvic. As such, Tau didn't need to do much to amass a solid lead at 8-1 after 4 minutes, forcing the visitors' first timeout. After that, Yotam Halperin nailed a three-pointer to reduce the margin, but Serkan Erdogan quickly answerd with the same. Another three by Drobnjak allowed the visitors to come within 11-7 midway through the quarter, but the joy ended abruptly as Tau started to look for Splitter inside and run the court. Soon, the Tau advantage had ballooned to 23-9 after 7 minutes. Olimpija brought in Johnson to reinforce its frontcourt, but Jacobsen was just heating up his shot and carried Tau to a 26-11 advantage after 10 minutes.

Jimmy Oliver came off the bench for Olimpija to score free throws that made it 26-13 early in the second quarter. Then Scola decided to put on his own show, scoring 5 points in a row, before Ukic finished a neat turnaround move with a layup for the first 20-point margin, 33-13. Olimpija watched until Drobnjak found a free throw midway through the quarter. The 5 minutes Olimpija needed to score again allowed Tau to escape even further to 40-14 behind a couple of baskets by Kornel David on the way to a 47-20 halftime advantage.

Olimpija came out strong after the break as Szewczyk's three-pointer resumed the scoring, but Splitter took over immediately and collected 7 points, including a hook shot to make it to 54-23 after 22 minutes. Szewczyk kept pushing Olimpija to reduce the gap to 24 points at 59-35, even forcing a Tau timeout. The hosts were losing concentration and accepted a new three-pointer by Szewczyk as the difference dipped toward 20 points again. Jacobsen stopped that trend with a fastbreak dunk and a three-pointer, while Manuchar Markoishvili, Szewczyk and Halperin answered for Olimpija on the way to a 66-45 score after 30 minutes.

Morovic got the difference below 20 points with a fastbreak layup early in the final quarter, but that woul dhave to be Olimpija's highlight. Prigioni answered quickly from the arc as Tau pushed the lead bck to 72-47. A last Olimpija timeout didn't make a difference as everything was decided and both teams knew it. Tau coach Velimir Perasovic took advantage of that to allow center Oscar Garcia make his debut in the Euroleague with 2 minutes to go. The difference remained stable at 30 points, 88-58, entering in the last minute of a game that served to confirm that both teams now stood where they belonged.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Natxo Mendaza, Vitoria
No results found.
Referees: ZAVLANOS, NIKOLAOS; LAMONICA, LUIGI; KLAAR, LARS; ORTIZ DE ZÁRATE, JOSÉ MANUEL
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz26211925
Union Olimpija1192518
End of Quarter1234
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz26476691
Union Olimpija11204563
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 SCOLA, LUIS 18:45 12 4/9   4/5 1 4 5 1 1 1 2 1 4 6 15
5 PRIGIONI, PABLO 16:00 6   2/2     3 3 8 1 2     1   15
6 HANSEN, TRAVIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 VIDAL, SERGI 30:30 2 0/2 0/2 2/2 1 1 2 4 2 1     2 2 5
10 UKIC, ROKO 24:00 10 3/6 1/1 1/2   2 2 6 1 1     2 2 14
11 ERDOGAN, SERKAN 18:00 7 3/4 0/6 1/2 1 2 3 1 1       3 1 2
14 DROBNJAK, PREDRAG 21:30 8 2/4   4/6   5 5   1       2 4 12
15 GRIMAU, JORDI 5:15 3   1/4                        
16 GARCIA, OSCAR 2:15     0/1                       -1
18 DAVID, KORNEL 19:00 8 3/4   2/4 1 1 2   1       3 3 8
21 SPLITTER, TIAGO 18:30 17 8/9   1/2 5 3 8   2 1     1 3 26
23 JACOBSEN, CASEY 26:15 18 4/4 3/5 1/1         1 3     1 1 14
Team           1 2 3   1           4
Totals 200:00 91 27/42 7/21 16/24 10 23 33 20 12 9 2 1 19 22 114
        64.3% 33.3% 66.7%
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Union Olimpija
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 JOHNSON, DEMARCO 16:00 10 4/9   2/2 3 2 5     3     3 1 5
7 SZEWCZYK, SZYMON 15:45 13 1/4 3/4 2/4   2 2 1 1 2   1 2 2 8
8 RIZVIC, HASAN 11:45 1 0/2   1/2   3 3     1 1   2 1  
9 RANNIKKO, TEEMU 19:00 4 1/3 0/2 2/2 1   1 2   1     2 3 3
10 MOROVIC, VEDRAN 21:15 10 4/6 0/1 2/2   2 2 1 1 7     4 2 2
11 MARKOISHVILI, MANUCHAR 30:00 8 1/4 2/6   3 1 4     2     4 1  
13 NOVAK, ERNEST DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 DROBNJAK, DRAGISA 27:00 11 3/7 1/1 2/4 6   6 1 1 1     4 5 13
15 VAN DE HARE, REMON 9:30   0/2     1 2 3   1 2   1 1 2  
20 ANTONIJEVIC, MARKO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 HALPERIN, YOTAM 36:00 6 0/4 2/4     1 1 1 1           3
24 OLIVER, JIMMY 13:45   0/1 0/2                     2 -1
Team           3 4 7     1         6
Totals 200:00 63 14/42 8/20 11/16 17 17 34 6 5 20 1 2 22 19 39
        33.3% 40% 68.8%
Head coach: SAGADIN, ZMAGOSLAV
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I think we started playing with a very good rhythm, we managed to prevent Olimpija from scoring in the first two quarters and that made the way easier. I think it was to our merit, although they didn't have a good night either. The game became easy too early, so there is not much to say about it. This Union Olimpija is not the same team we watched against Bamberg or Zalgiris, but I'm happy because the win was very important for us and winning in this way will give us more breath for our next game in domestic competition. We lost concentration in the third quarter, as Szewczyk hurted us a lot from the outside playing as a false center."
SAGADIN, ZMAGOSLAV
Union Olimpija
"First of all I want to congratulate Tau Ceramica because it was a better team than we were tonight. We let them escape in the beginning, we allowed them to open the game in the first quarter and we found ourselves unable to react after that. There was only one team on the court tonight and it was Tau Ceramica. We have many problems this season, because of all the changes we made in the roster, taking players from everywhere. They are showing that we don't have neither team spirit, nor cooperation on the floor. Since I got in charge one month ago my target is to survive this season. We are already looking for new players, for a Slovenian player with better quality in order to be competitive again next season."

Players

SPLITTER, TIAGO
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I think we started the game pretty well, especially on defense. We played great the things we prepared for them and that made us play more relaxed on offense and allowed us take a good advantage in the beginning. Unfortunately, we played under our level in the third quarter and found many problems to stop their centers, who started to step back and hit the three. Despite the damage they did to us, we were able to react and managed to keep the win safe."
No results found.