2017-18Regular SeasonRound 24
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 80
Unicaja Malaga 76
March 02, 2018 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 ALEKSANDAR NIKOLIC HALL

Rochestie, Bjelica lead Zvezda past Unicaja

In a battle that went down to the final seconds, Crvena Zvezda recorded its 10th victory of the season by topping Unicaja 80-76 at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in the Serbian capital on Friday. Both teams now have 10-14 records in the standings, but Unicaja is ahead in 10th place due to having won by a greater margin when they played in Malaga. Taylor Rochestie led the winners with 21 points. Milko Bjelica added 13, all in the final 17 minutes. James Feldeine had 11 more while Branko Lazic got 10 for Zvezda. Adam Waczynski led Unicaja with 13 points, while Dragan Milosavljevic and Jeff Brooks each had 12 for the guests. Rochestie downed a couple of early three-pointers to give Zvezda an 11-6 lead. Milosavlejvic and James Augustine stepped up for Unicaja but Feldeine and Dylan Ennis helped Zvezda tie the game, 24-24, after 10 minutes. Mo Soluade's 5 unanswered points gave Unicaja a 30-32 edge but Rochestie led a 7-0 run that allowed Zvezda to regain a 40-37 margin at halftime. Rochestie took over after the break to make it a double-digit game, 47-37. Zvezda kept a 62-52 margin at the end of the third quarter but Unicaja managed to get within 76-74 with 9.9 seconds left. Free throws by Rochestie and Dejan Davidovac allowed Zvezda to celebrate another win.

Mathias Lessort got Zvezda going with a jump hook and Rochestie added a three-pointer for a 5-0 lead. Milosavljevic followed a jumper with a layup in a 0-6 Unicaja run but Rochestie and Lazic each struck from downtown to restore an 11-6 Zvezda margin. Augustine and an unstoppable Milosavljevic fueled a 0-7 run but Feldeine struck twice from downtown and Stefan Jankovic put Zvezda back ahead, 20-19. Giorgi Shermadini made free throws and Ray McCallum added a three-point play but Feldeine and Ennis scored in penetration for a 24-24 tie after 10 minutes. Davidovac and Carlos Suarez hit free throws early in the second quarter and a layup by Waczynski put Unicaja in charge, 26-27. Jankovic scored down low and Rochestie added foul shots but Soluade followed a triple with a layup for a 30-32 Unicaja lead. Rochestie struck from beyond the arc and followed Lazic's dunk with a jumper to make Unicaja call timeout at 37-32. Augustine took over with a three-point play and Salin added free throws but Lessort and Ennis kept Zvezda ahead, 40-37, at halftime.

Rochestie downed a couple of jumpers after the break and Davidovac added a triple to make it a double-digit game, 47-37. Salin tried to change things with a tip-in and a triple but Bjelica and Lessort kept Zvezda way ahead, 51-42. Augustine and Brooks stepped up for Unicaja and a dunk by Milosavljevic got the guests within 54-50. Feldeine buried a three-pointers and layups by Bjelica and Ennis boosted Zvezda's lead to 62-52 after 30 minutes. Unicaja improved its defense with Viny Okouo protecting the rim. Meanwhile, Waczynski and Carlos Suarez made Zvezda call timeout at 62-57. Bjelica hit a triple and Rochestie added a driving layup but McCallum and Waczynski brought Unicaja even closer, 69-66, with 3 minutes left. Lazic downed a three-pointer and Davidovac erased Waczynski's jumper with a dunk for a 74-68 score. Brooks and Bjelica exchanged jump hooks, McCallum scored in penetration and an off-balance basket by Brooks made it a two-point game, 76-74, with 9.9 seconds to go. Rochestie and Davidovac hit free throws to make sure Zvezda sealed an important win.

Both teams return to action next Friday when Unicaja visits CSKA Moscow and Zvezda also plays on the road against FC Barcelona Lassa.

Taylor Rochestie - Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade - EB17
Friday, March 2, 2018
Euroleague.net
Referees: PATERNICO, CARMELO; BALAK, AMIT; REITER, MORITZ
Attendance: 4873
By Quarter1234
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade24162218
Unicaja Malaga24131524
End of Quarter1234
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade24406280
Unicaja Malaga24375276
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 KESELJ, MARKO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 DAVIDOVAC, DEJAN 16:55 9 1/1 1/2 4/4   2 2 2 1       3 2 12
10 LAZIC, BRANKO 25:10 10 1/3 2/4 2/2 1 2 3 2         3 4 12
12 ANTIC, PERO 18:02     0/3     2 2 1         1 2 1
13 DOBRIC, OGNJEN 10:40   0/1 0/2                   2   -5
14 FELDEINE, JAMES 27:39 11 1/7 3/6   1   1 4 2 1 1 1 2   6
16 JANKOVIC, STEFAN 13:25 5 2/3 0/1 1/2   1 1 1 2 1     4 1 2
22 ROCHESTIE, TAYLOR 26:44 21 4/7 3/4 4/4 1   1 4       1 4 4 21
23 OMIC, ALEN 3:03       0/2   1 1     1       1 -1
26 LESSORT, MATHIAS 18:26 5 2/7   1/2 3 5 8     1   1 2 3 6
31 ENNIS, DYLAN 13:21 6 3/4 0/2         3         2   4
51 BJELICA, MILKO 26:35 13 4/5 1/3 2/3 1 3 4 2 1   1   2 4 19
Team           3 2 5               5
Totals 200:00 80 18/38 10/27 14/19 10 18 28 19 6 4 2 3 25 21 82
        47.4% 37% 73.7%
Head coach: ALIMPIJEVIC, DUSAN
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
Unicaja Malaga
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 OKOUO, VINY 6:46 1 0/1   1/2 1   1       1   2 1  
3 MCCALLUM, RAY 23:44 9 4/7 0/3 1/3   3 3 1       1 1 2 5
6 SOLUADE, MO 11:28 5 1/1 1/2     1 1 1         2 1 5
9 DIAZ, ALBERTO 16:30 2 0/2 0/3 2/2   2 2 2   1     1 2 1
10 SALIN, SASU 17:20 7 1/1 1/4 2/2 1 2 3     1     1 3 8
11 DIEZ, DANIEL 13:53 1     1/2   2 2 1 1         1 5
12 MILOSAVLJEVIC, DRAGAN 18:39 12 4/9 0/1 4/4 1 4 5     1     1 4 13
17 SHERMADINI, GIORGI 9:09 2 0/1   2/2   2 2     1     2 1 1
21 WACZYNSKI, ADAM 18:26 13 5/7 1/3     1 1 1   2     4 1 6
23 BROOKS, JEFF 27:17 12 5/6 0/1 2/2 2 2 4 2 1 1 1   4 2 15
40 AUGUSTINE, JAMES 21:30 8 3/5   2/3 4 5 9 4   2 1 1 3 2 15
43 SUAREZ, CARLOS 15:18 4 0/1 0/1 4/5 2 3 5 2   2       5 11
Team           4 1 5     1         4
Totals 200:00 76 23/41 3/18 21/27 15 28 43 14 2 12 3 2 21 25 89
        56.1% 16.7% 77.8%
Head coach: PLAZA, JOAN

Head Coaches

ALIMPIJEVIC, DUSAN
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade

“We got back our confidence in this game because we scored ten threes. It was not so easy because we had one bad period, and because of that this win is even more important.”

"It is a very important win. Again, we played like we know how to play, and 10 wins in the EuroLeague is a huge thing for us so far. Again, it was a team victory. We were very concentrated on defense. I am just not satisfied with one thing: I have the feeling we allowed a lot of points from their offensive rebounds, but everything else was excellent. The fourth quarter was really tough. We had the win in our hands but this is basketball, and because of that, it was a nice game."

PLAZA, JOAN
Unicaja Malaga
“I’m proud of my players because before, during and even at the end of the game, it would have been easy for them to give up. We’ve got some guys not in a good physical shape, and in the third quarter we had a big partial score against us. But the worst thing is our turnovers, especially in the first half. We lost ten turnovers in the first half and zero in the last quarter, which we won. Zvezda made good pressure, but these turnovers, the partial in the third quarter and our bad percentage shooting threes are the reasons we lost. I don’t like coaches complaining about injuries. Nedovic is a key player for us but we need to survive with and without him. I could begin the press conference by crying about our injuries, but if you didn’t ask me I wouldn’t mention them. We are competing, and that’s it. Unicaja has a lot of EuroLeague experience, we eleven Top 16s in a row, but we know how tough it is. It’s really difficult to get into the playoffs, but we are close. We need to win at least four of our six games, but if we have chances in the last game of the regular season we will be happy.”

Players

ROCHESTIE, TAYLOR
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"We knew it was going to be a tough game. They are a very tough team and we just wanted to play more our style of basketball. They had some runs, we had some runs in the end, we came out with the win. The fourth quarter was back-and-forth and it came down to getting a lot of stops. They played great basketball and we knew we had to make some free throws. It was a good team win."
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