2002-03Regular SeasonRound 12
January 30, 2003 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 BASKETBALL CENTER DRAZEN PETROVIC

A moment of truth became a moment of glory in Zagreb, Croatia on Thursday as Cibona VIP stared down a visit from its nearest pursuer, Alba Berlin, and marched into the Top 16 with a rousing 90-72 victory in Group A. Cibona raised its record to 6-6, good for fifth place, and dropped Alba to 4-8, the same as Pau-Orthez, with two games remaining in the regular season. Since Cibona holds advantages in point differentials over both Alba and Pau, the Croatian champs advance no matter ties might occur now. A defense that forced 21 turnovers on Alba and stole 15 balls sparked Cibona's rout and impressive 65.7% shooting on two-pointers kept the hosts in charge all night. Marijan Mance led the winners with 20 points. Zoran Planinic added 17, Haris Mujezinovic 14 and Niksa Prkacin 11 for Cibona. Alba suffered from foul trouble to big man Jovo Stanojevic, who was on-court only 9 minutes before fouling out. In his absence, Quadre Lollis did yoeman's work with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Marko Pesic was the only other Alba player in double figures with 12 points.

For both teams this was a moment-of-truth, winner-take-all challenge. Alba was looking for the repeat of the first match in Berlin and with it great postion to reach the Top 16. Cibona was looking for a win to enlarge the existing one-victory gap between the two teams. It was close for most of the first half, but Cibona was always looking a likely winner. Planinic had a great first quarter, scoring 12 points as Cibona got throught 10 minutes with a 23-20 lead. By the middle of the second quarter, Alba was holding on within the same 3 points, at 30-27, with Stanojevic already sitting but Lollis and Teoman Ozturk holding up their team under the basket. But that was as close as Alba got. Four quick points between Barisa Krasic and Prkacin made it 34-27. When Prkacin dunked for a second time just before the half, Cibona had a nine-point lead, 47-38, to work with for the final 20 minutes.

Out of the lockerrooms, Cibona kept pushing and never looked back. The key, as Cibona coach Aleksandar Petrovic had been saying all week, was containing either Stanojevic or Lollis, if not both. In their first game, Alba dominanted the boards and won by 14 points as Stanojevic had a great game. This time, Stanojevic was in foul trouble early, with 3 fouls in the first 5 minutes. He finished with 8 points. Cibona, meanwhile, had plenty of contributors, with Mance stepping up for his biggest scoring night ever in Europe. As the outcome became clear, the question of whether Cibona could overcome the 14-point margin of the first loss was crucial. With 15, Cibona could assure its Top 16 trip, and with 2 points each in the final minute, Mance and Matej Mamic made sure of that. The night could not have been a bigger success for Cibona.

Thursday, January 30, 2003
Neven Berticevic, Sportske novosti, Zagreb
No results found.
Referees: FACCHINI, FABIO; MARTIN, JOSE; LAINIOTIS, SOTIRIOS
Attendance: 2500
By Quarter1234
Cibona VIP23242716
Alba Berlin20181915
End of Quarter1234
Cibona VIP23477490
Alba Berlin20385772
Cibona VIP
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 KRUNIC, DARKO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 KUS, DAVOR 14:00 7 2/2   3/3         2       2 3 10
6 RIMAC, SLAVEN 8:00 3 0/1 1/1             1     2   -1
7 KRASIC, BARISA 13:00 8 2/2 1/3 1/2 1 1 2 1 2       1 2 11
8 PRKACIN, NIKOLA 27:00 11 4/9   3/5 1 5 6 3 2 5 1 2 4 4 9
9 MUJEZINOVIC, HARIS 27:00 14 2/2 2/4 4/4 2 2 4   1 5     4 3 11
10 PLANINIC, ZORAN 26:00 17 7/10 0/1 3/4 1   1 1   3     3 3 11
11 STIMAC, ANDREJ DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 MANCE, MARIJAN 32:00 20 5/7 2/4 4/4 1 2 3 4 2 3     1 3 24
13 MAMIC, MATEJ 27:00 5 2/2 0/3 1/3 1 4 5 3 1 1     2 4 10
14 RUZIC, TOMISLAV 13:00 1     1/2 2 2 4 1 1 1     2 1 4
15 ALIHODZIC, DZEVAD 13:00 4 1/3   2/2   1 1 1 4 2     3 5 8
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 90 25/38 6/16 22/29 10 18 28 14 15 21 1 2 24 28 99
        65.8% 37.5% 75.9%
Head coach: PETROVIC, ALEKSANDR
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
Alba Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 RODL, HENRIK 26:00   0/1     1 2 3 1 2 3     3 3 2
6 STANOJEVIC, JOVO 9:00 8 4/7     1   1     4     5   -3
7 PESIC, MARKO 26:00 12 2/4 2/5 2/3   1 1     3     1 4 7
8 RANKIN, KEVIN 17:00 4   1/1 1/2   2 2   2 3 2   4 1 3
9 OZTURK, TEOMAN 21:00 8 3/5 0/1 2/2 1 1 2 1         3 3 8
10 DEMIREL, MITHAT 27:00 8 2/4 1/7 1/1   1 1 1 1 3     2 4 2
11 GARRIS, STEFANO 28:00 7 1/4 1/2 2/2 2 1 3           3 1 4
12 CELESTAND, JOHN 13:00 4 1/5 0/1 2/2 1 1 2 2 2 1   1 4 2 1
13 GRUNHEID, GUIDO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 LOLLIS, QUADRE-MICHAEL 33:00 21 6/9 1/1 6/8 5 5 10 6 2 4     3 6 33
Team                                
Totals 200:00 72 19/39 6/18 16/20 11 14 25 11 9 21 2 1 28 24 57
        48.7% 33.3% 80%
Head coach: MUTAPCIC, EMIR
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PETROVIC, ALEKSANDAR
Cibona VIP
"Our goal was to make it to the Top 16, tonightwe reached that goal, now we can concentrate for the nextsix matches in the Euroleague. It was a great team effort,but I must say that Dzevad Alihodzic did a great jobby limiting Jovo Stanojevic. That was also one of ourgoals before the game. Stanojevic was in foul trobleearly, he went early to the bench, he was fouled out earlyin the match. Also, Marijan Mance had abig game scoring 20 points. Now that we made it to theTop 16, there is no burden, we can play morefreely."
MUTAPCIC, EMIR
Alba Berlin
"Cibona was a better team tonight. From the wordgo to the end, we could not keep up with their rhythm orconcentration. Especially in offense. And when you playlike that, there is no chance to win or go through. Wedid not lose our chances to make it to the Top 16in Zagreb, we lost our chances losing some matches inBerlin. Anyway, German journalists did not give us muchchances to get there from the beginning of the season."

Players

ALIHODZIC, DZEVAD
Cibona VIP
"We played great defense throughout the game. Yes, wemade some offensive mistakes, but that happens whenyou give it all on defense."
MANCE, MARIJAN
Cibona VIP
"Alihodzic was the key, great deffense on Stanojevic.That was the first part. Niksa Prkacin came in, alsohad a big game, and when your big guys play like that,it is easier to make some shots, which we did."
MUJEZINOVIC, HARIS
Cibona VIP
"We deserved the Top 16 and played some big gamesdown the stretch, puting ourselves in position to go astep further. This was one of those games."
PESIC, MARKO
Alba Berlin
"This was one of our worst games of all season. Cibonadid not play that well, but we were terrible,apsolutly terrible. Early foul problems with Stanojevicdid not help either, but that's how it goes sometimes."
No results found.