2001-02Top 16Round 4
March 28, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 ZAVOD TIVOLI
Though it was far away from Athens, AEK won the game it needed to remain in the struggle for the Final Four with a resounding 69-95 Group G decision over Union Olimpija in Ljubljana. The so-called "Greek group" is more apt than ever, because AEK's victory drew it to 2-2, within a victory of co-leaders Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, both 3-1 after the former topped the latter in Athens on Thursday. With the defeat, Union Olimpija is 0-4 and mathematically out of the running. With motivation on its side and the season's smallest crowd at Tivoli Arena in Ljubljana, AEK dominated the game from the early going and really was never challenged by the newly-crowned Adriatic League champions. JR Holden was the main offensive weapon for AEK, finishing with 26 points. Demos Dikoudis and Mikalis Kakiouzis added 18 each. For the hosts, Haris Mujezinovic hit 17 and Jiri Welsch netted 14.

The balance at the beginning lasted for a few minutes only, as AEK's superiority was evident in several aspects. Under the rims, Dikoudis dominated the rebounding and also took great shots out of the paint, while on the back court, Holden's playmaking helped to increase AEK's lead little by little. In minute 9, the score showed 14-20 after a three-point play by Holden and a three-point shot by Chris Carr. That was only the beginning of something that not even the timeout called by Olimpija coach Zmago Sagadin could stop. The biggest problem for the hosts was Holden, who hit 17 points in the first half, and ruined Beno Udrih's night. But Vlatko Ilievski and, from time to time, Jure Zdovc, were also unable to stop the guest point guard. With the 13 points by Dikoudis and the 12 by Kakiouzis, the Greeks were ahead all the time, and just one minute before the break, they had climbed to a 10-point lead, 47-37.

Even though Zdovc and coach Sagadin had said that this would be Olimpija's first win in the Top 16, the will to win of the Slovenians didn't seem evident Thursday night. The motivation and the obligation to win were on AEK's side, as was the quality of play on the court. Olimpija was unable to score its first basket of the third quarter until minute 25, and by then, the game was already broken open. The gap in the score was 17 points, 42-59, with Holden already up to 21 himself. In minute 26, Olimpija made its best move of the night by approaching to within 49-61, but in the last quarter, AEK reacted again and boosted its lead back to 59-74. The drama was heading back to Athens, and AEK was going to be a part of it again.
Thursday, March 28, 2002
Ziga Bojc, Ljubljana
No results found.
Referees: SANCHA, EDUARDO; REATTO, MARCELLO; POZZANA, MAURO
Attendance: 2000
By Quarter1234
Union Olimpija20221116
AEK Athens26242114
End of Quarter1234
Union Olimpija20425369
AEK Athens26507185
Union Olimpija
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 WELSCH, JIRI 32:35 14 2/5 2/4 4/4 1 3 4 3 2 3       5 20
5 GOLEMAC, JURICA 20:53 8 2/4 1/2 1/1 1 2 3 2   3   1 4 1 3
6 ILIEVSKI, VLADO 18:20 4 2/2 0/2         3 2 1     3   3
7 BOISA, VLADIMER 6:15 2   0/1 2/2                 2 1  
9 UDRIH, BENO 27:17 9 3/6 1/3   1 1 2 2 2 3     5   2
10 ZDOVC, JURE 21:06 6 1/1 1/4 1/1   1 1     2     5 2 -1
11 AWOJOBI, TUNJI FEMI 7:09 2 1/2           1         1 1 2
12 DAL, NEDIM 8:55 2 1/3       1 1   1       1   1
13 MUJEZINOVIC, HARIS 32:21 17 6/11   5/7 1 7 8 2 5 2 1   4 11 31
14 HUKIC, JASMIN 25:09 5 1/3 1/4   2 2 4   2       1 1 6
Team                                
Totals 200:00 69 19/37 6/20 13/15 6 17 23 13 14 14 1 1 26 22 67
        51.4% 30% 86.7%
Head coach: SAGADIN, ZMAGOSLAV
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
AEK Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 HOLDEN, JR 36:12 26 8/14 2/6 4/5 2 2 4 3 3 4     2 7 26
5 PANTELIADIS, SPYRIDON 6:01 2   0/1 2/2   1 1 1   2     1 2 2
6 ZISIS, NIKOS 27:46 12 3/3 1/3 3/4 1 2 3 1 4 3     1 5 18
7 TAPOUTOS, CHRISTOS 3:11     0/2     1 1               -1
8 CARR, CHRISTOPHER 10:00 3 0/1 1/2   1   1 1         1   2
10 KIKILIAS, VASSILIS 6:24     0/1     1 1     1     2   -3
11 DIKOUDIS, DIMOS 38:07 18 7/10   4/4 1 4 5   2 4     4 6 20
13 PASCHALIS, KOSTAS 11:08   0/1       1 1   1 1     3 1 -2
14 BETTS, ANDY 19:36 4 0/2   4/4   3 3     4 1 1 3 2  
15 KAKIOUZIS, MICHAILIS 30:25 18 5/6 2/3 2/3 3 5 8   1       1 3 26
16 ANTIC, PERO 11:10 2 1/1 0/1   2   2 1         4    
Team                                
Totals 200:00 85 24/38 6/19 19/22 10 20 30 7 11 19 1 1 22 26 88
        63.2% 31.6% 86.4%
Head coach: SAKOTA, DRAGAN
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

SAGADIN, ZMAGOSLAV
Union Olimpija
"As I have said many times before, we are in a war which is not ours. The only thing we can do is play at our best and wait for us to have a great night so that we ae able to defeat one of the favorite teams. We played an awful defense tonight, and we played even worse under the rims, which was used by AEK o deserve the win. While this was a do-or-die game for them, we have to use these games to get prepared for the really difficult games we have ahead in the calendar".
SAKOTA, DRAGAN
AEK Athens
"At the beginning of the game we said we would not talk about the game between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos, since a win by Panathinaikos together with our win here, would still give us options for a Final Four spot, but when we knew about the other result we relaxed. It's never easy to play against Olimpija, mainly when they play at home. Tonight, the Tivoli Arena was rather empty and that's strange, but it could be because they have no options to advance to the Final Four. We played as we had programmed, and with a bit of good luck in the next game, we'll still be on for the final phase."

Players

ZDOVC, JURE
Union Olimpija
"Since the beginning of the game we were behind, since AEK was far more motivated than us. Our defense didn't work in the first half, and when you play poor defense, it's impossible to get through. On top of everything, it was too hard for us to score at the beginning of the second half, and everything else turned out bad as well. This defeat is no big deal, we still have many games ahead and it's important to forget tonight's game as soon as possible".
HOLDEN, JR
AEK Athens
"Since Panathinaikos has beaten Olympiakos, the last two weeks will be a hell for us, and anything can happen in the next two games. I hope we have a little more luck since it will also play its part to decide who will be the team to advance to the Final Four."
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