2002-03Regular SeasonRound 4
October 30, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 JP CENTAR MORACA

It had to pick up its game in the second half, but Tau Ceramica maintained its status as undefeated leader in Group B by imposing its quality against Buducnost in Podgorica on Wednesday night to win 71-81. Tau climbed to 4-0 behind 18 points from Luis Scola, 17 from Hanno Mottola and 13 from Jerome Allen. Despite its best efforts for the home fans, Buducnost remains winless in this Euroleague at 0-4, even though the talent of its young roster will meet one victim sooner or later. John Brown was the best man of the hosts with 29 points and Alaksandar Smiljanic added 13.

During the first two quarters, one could hardly tell any differences between the team that was 3-0 and the one that was 0-3. Tau, who was the favorite on the paper, came across as a young and ambitious team, diving for loose balls and using a good zone defense for most of the first half. Tau didn't have any advantage under the rims, and since its shooting wasn't too accurate either, Buducnost was always either ahead or very close behind. The maximum lead for the hosts arrived in minute 7 after a three-pointer by Zarko Cabarkapa, 18-13, but 4 points by Andres Nocioni in the last plays of the period gave the minimum lead back to Tau, 19-20.

In the second quarter, Tau managed to forge its own seven-point lead, but then Smiljanic appeared for Buducnost to drain 2 consecutive threes and balance the score again. With a basket by Brown, who has been getting better game by game, Buducnost took the lead again, 34-33, and only two turnovers by Walsh Jordan and an offensive foul by Dejan Milojevic allowed Tau a one-point lead at the break, 39-40.

The second half, until the last minutes, resembled the first two quarters, as balance was the dominant note, as well as mistakes and poor shooting percentages for both sides. Brown, who played his best game since he arrived in Podgorica, put his team ahead twice, at 48-47 and 50-49, but Mottola answered quickly to give Tau a 50-51 edge. A missed three by Sinisa Kovacevic and travelling on Milojevic allowed Tau to take a breath after a basket by Scola and free throws by Sergi Vidal, 52-57.

A three by Mottola, forged the first double-digit lead for the hosts, 52-62, but the game wasn't over yet. Playing better in the paint, Buducnost climbed back on a 12-3 run to within 64-65. Then, at 64-67, Smiljanic missed an important three while Paladino hit his own triple in the following play for a 64-70 Tau lead. The hosts tried the zone defense again, and the fifth foul by Scola at 64-72 looked like an advantage for Buducnost, but with Jordan struggling, Miloevic almost invisible and Cabarkapa injured in the third quarter, Buducnost didn't have enough left to rally for the upset.

Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Milivoje Kovacevic, Podgorica
No results found.
Referees: KOROMILAS, KOSTAS; KLAAR, LARS; SAHIN, TOLGA
Attendance: 4250
By Quarter1234
KK Buducnost19201616
Tau Ceramica20202219
End of Quarter1234
KK Buducnost19395571
Tau Ceramica20406281
KK Buducnost
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 PAJOVIC, GAVRILO 10:00 2 1/2 0/1                        
6 SMILJANIC, ALEKSANDAR 33:00 13 3/6 2/6 1/1   1 1 3   2   1 2 4 9
7 BROWN, JOHN 37:00 29 13/21 1/1 0/3 6 7 13   1 2     4 5 31
8 BULAJIC, NIKOLA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 JORDAN, WALSH 26:00 7 2/3 1/4     2 2 2 2       2 1 8
10 KOLJEVIC, IVAN 9:00   0/1 0/2                   1   -4
11 PAVLOVIC, SASHA 17:00 6 1/5 1/3 1/2 2   2           1 1 1
12 VRANES, SLAVKO 15:00 1 0/2   1/2   3 3     1 1     2 3
13 MILOJEVIC, DEJAN 26:00 4 2/3 0/1 0/2   3 3 1 3 4     3 3 3
14 KOVACEVIC, SINISA 6:00     0/2         2         4 2 -2
15 CABARKAPA, ZARKO 21:00 9 1/1 2/2 1/2 2 1 3 4 2 1     3 3 16
17 POPOVIC, MARKO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                                
Totals 200:00 71 23/44 7/22 4/12 10 17 27 12 8 10 1 1 20 21 65
        52.3% 31.8% 33.3%
Head coach: DUROVIC, VLADE
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
Tau Ceramica
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 SCOLA, LUIS 19:00 18 7/10   4/4   6 6     3     4 3 17
5 NOCIONI, ANDRES 17:00 11 3/4 1/4 2/4   1 1     2 1   4 3 4
8 CALDERON, JOSE 8:00   0/2       1 1     1         -2
9 VIDAL, SERGI 21:00 4 1/2   2/4 1 2 3           4 3 3
10 PALLADINO, LEANDRO 34:00 8 1/2 2/2     3 3 3 1       2 2 14
11 ALLEN, JEROME 40:00 13 4/6 1/4 2/3   3 3 2 1 1   1   4 15
12 GRIFFITH, RASHARD 28:00 10 5/7       7 7 1   3 4   3 1 15
13 MOTTOLA, HANNO 33:00 17 3/7 2/4 5/6 3 3 6     4     2 5 15
15 HERNANDEZ, EDUARDO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
17 BUESA, JAVIER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                                
Totals 200:00 81 24/40 6/14 15/21 4 26 30 6 2 14 5 1 19 21 81
        60% 42.9% 71.4%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

DUROVIC, VLADE
KK Buducnost
"The Euroleague is a very hard competition for my team. After defeats, we lose the good spirit in the team. It is very hard to play against Tau. Tonight we played very good for 35 minutes, again. We had the lead, we had rebounds, only three fewer than Tau despite their players being 10 centimeters taller and 10 kilos heavier than ours. We played better defense, but we missed points by Ivan Koljevic and Dejan Milojevic. Koljevic and Aleksandar Pavlovic entered in the game with a lot of media pressure. They had the best intentions, but... Zarko Cabarkapa also suffered his injury in the most decisive moment. There is no reason for my team to be unsatisfied. Our funs supported us better then ever."
IVANOVIC, DUSKO
Tau Ceramica
"Our game was below my expectations. Buducnost showed itself to be a young and very talented team, very ambitious. And they play very modern basketball. At this moment ,they only need experience. We failed in defensive rebounds, especially against Brown, and the transition game of Buducnost during the first half what was its main force. We won thanks to our better experience and because we had more options in decisive part of the game."

Players

BROWN, JOHN
KK Buducnost
"The game was very exciting. We played our best, we tried. Our team is young and you saw that we played hard. Tau was more experienced then us. I'm just proud of the guys, the way they played today and I hope that we will be better in Yugoslav League."
MOTTOLA, HANNO
Tau Ceramica
"It was a tough first half of the match. We got in a lot of foul trouble with Scola and Nocioni. In the second half, we improved on defense and that was the key of our victory."
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