2002-03Regular SeasonRound 2
October 16, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 PALAIS DES SPORTS DE PAU

Pau-Orthez turned back visiting Cibona 77-74

Pau-Orthez of France served notice that its home court was not for anyone else's taking when it fought its way to a first Group B victory on Wednesday by 77-74 over persistent visitor Cibona VIP of Croatia. The triumph will be remembered as a piece of history by Pau, as it marked only the second time in 13 games against Cibona that the French team has managed to come out the winner. Balance was the key for Pau as Rod Sellers again led the way inside, scoring 15 points and pulling 15 rebounds. He was followed in the scoring list by Florent Pietrus with 13, Kyle Hill with 12 and Dragan Lukovsky with 12 ponts and 7 assists. Hill canned a pair of free throws on an intentional foul with 5 seconds left to finally finish with Cibona. The visitors had the initiative much of the game, but fell short despite 14 points from Marijan Mance, 13 from Matej Mamic and 13 from Tomislav Ruzic. Both teams are now 1-1 and in the middle of the pack in Group A after two weeks of play.

Save for the the first couple minutes, when it led 5-0, Pau found itself consistently down on the scoreboard on its home court. A sudden 0-8 run put Cibona ahead and the visitors used three-pointers to stay in front. Cibona would finish the half having hit 6 of 12 from downtown, while Pau could not connect on any of its four deep shots on its own floor. Barisa Krasic was the main triggerman, with 3 bombs dropped from the perimeter, but Matej Mamic was right behind him with 2. Neither was Cibona's main scorer, however. That distinction belonged to power forward Tomislav Rusiz, whose 13 points provided the scoring balance that kept Pau's defense busy inside and out. The halftime score, 36-41, testified to that balance. Cibona's defense might have been more impressive, however, as it denied Pau any real breaks in the game and that way kept the crowd out of the game.

After the half, Pau started chipping away at the Cibona lead. Sellers and Pietrus did the heavy work inside, and Lukovski had the honor of seizing the lead back for the home fans with a basket and free throw to make it 48-47, Pau's first advantage since the opening minutes. The game would stay close, however, with Pau always a point or two ahead, with a maximum lead of 5 on a Lukovski three that made it 72-67. Cibona got four back before the entering in the final minute where Pau was able to cling to a 75-74 lead. With 5 seconds left, an intentional foul was called against Marijan Mance of Cibona and Hill sank both free throws to ice the game.

Wednesday, October 16, 2002
Euroleague.net
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Referees: FACCHINI, FABIO; MPOTITSIS, NIKOS; LOVSIN, ANDREJ
Attendance: 5500
By Quarter1234
Pau-Orthez18182219
Cibona VIP23181716
End of Quarter1234
Pau-Orthez18365877
Cibona VIP23415874
Pau-Orthez
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 FAUTHOUX, FREDERIC 15:00 5   1/3 2/2   1 1     1     2 1 2
5 LUKOVSKI, DRAGAN 25:00 12 3/7 1/3 3/5   1 1 7         3 4 13
6 PIETRUS, MICKAEL 25:00 7 1/4 0/3 5/7   1 1 2     1   3 4 4
7 JULIAN, CYRIL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 DROZDOV, ARTUR 8:00 6 3/4     1 1 2               7
9 DUBOS, FABIEN 3:00                         3   -3
11 PIETRUS, FLORENT 37:00 13 5/7 0/2 3/6 2 4 6 1 2 2     1 5 17
12 HILL, KYLE 28:00 14 2/4 2/5 4/4   1 1 2 2 1   1 3 5 14
13 DIAW, BORIS 20:00 4 1/2   2/2 1   1 3   3 2   2 3 7
14 PEJCINOVIC, DAVOR 12:00 1 0/1   1/2                 2 1 -2
15 SELLERS, ROD 27:00 15 5/9   5/5 1 11 12     1     4 4 22
Team                                
Totals 200:00 77 20/38 4/16 25/33 5 20 25 15 4 8 3 1 23 27 81
        52.6% 25% 75.8%
Head coach: SARRE, FREDERIC
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
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 12:00 5 0/1 1/1 2/2   1 1 1         1 1 6
5 KUS, DAVOR 35:00 11 3/10 1/3 2/2   3 3 7 2 2     5 7 14
6 RIMAC, SLAVEN 6:00 2 1/2               1 1       1
7 KRASIC, BARISA 19:00 6 0/2 2/4   1 3 4     2     4    
8 PRKACIN, NIKOLA 24:00 10 4/6   2/2 1 4 5 1       1 3 3 13
11 STIMAC, ANDREJ DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 MANCE, MARIJAN 27:00 14 3/5 2/3 2/2       2 2     1 5 2 11
13 MAMIC, MATEJ 40:00 13 2/2 2/6 3/4 2 2 4 4   1     2 3 16
14 RUZIC, TOMISLAV 17:00 13 5/8   3/3   3 3         1 5 4 11
15 ALIHODZIC, DZEVAD 20:00   0/3       2 2 1   1     3 2 -2
Team                                
Totals 200:00 74 18/39 8/17 14/15 4 18 22 16 4 7 1 3 28 22 70
        46.2% 47.1% 93.3%
Head coach: REPESA, JASMIN
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

SARRE, FREDERIC
Pau-Orthez
"We started winning at home, so it's nice but we have to say that it was very difficult because Cibona has a big good basketball tradition. Also, we didn't start like we had to start with agressive defense. We accepted too much easy basket from outside. When we came back more strong defensively, in the second half we get fastbreaks and it was easier to lead the score."
REPESA, JASMIN
Cibona VIP
"Congratulations to Pau, it's a big team with excellent basketball atmosphere in the gym. I was happy with our start and our first half in general. We lost rebounds but we scored from outside. I am not so happy with our second half. We gave them too many easy baskets. The third quarter was the key of the game. They cameback and took the lead because we made mistakes in defense."

Players

PIETRUS, FLORENT
Pau-Orthez
"The end of the game with a victory provokes a big pleasure in the team because we know that it is important to start well the competition home if we want to keep alive for the second round. With this victory, we enter in Pau-Orthez's history because it is not frequent for our team to win against Cibona Zagreb, a great basketball machine."
LUKOVSKI, DRAGAN
Pau-Orthez
"We are able to have better defense. I don't know why we began so soft. Maybe it was because it was our first game at home, maybe because everybody knows that Cibona always wins in Pau. We have to work collectively because each game in Europe will be strong like this one."
KUS, DAVOR
Cibona VIP
"We wanted to stop their offensive rebound and their fastbreak. We did it all in the first half but during the third quarter, they ran more than us. We have to learn about this game, because we gave them too much confidence."
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