Last week against Oostende it was 40 points, this week 30, as Zeleznik crushed Pivovarna Lasko on Tuesday by 59-89 on the road, which means that Zeleznik and Pamesa keep on demolishing their rivals in Group B, leaving the other teams to fight for the third and fourth places in the group. The guests were led by the 25 points from Goran Nikolic, Ognjen Askrabic added 19 and Ivan Zoroski contributed 11. For Pivovarna, Vladimir Popovic and Ermal Kuqo hit 11 each. Zeleznik now improves to 4-1 in Group B while Pivovarna drops to 2-3.
The Yugoslavs started the game carefully and put all their efforts in defense. Thus, neither team was able to pull away in the score, and thefirst 10 minutes ended with the guests two points ahead, 16-18. The second quarter was very similar as Lasko had its first lead in minute 13 with 23-21, and minutes later 29-26, but Zeleznik reacted and the game arrived at the break with the Yugoslavs ahead by 4 points, 41-37.
The break changed both teams, as while the guests played without any pressure and the baskets poured in one after the other, the hosts couldn't hit one, so the lead kept growing and growing. Since Lasko didn't have the means to stop the duo Nikolic-Askrabic, it was clear who the winner was going to be more than 10 minutes before the end, 49-65 after 30. The last quarter was a formality as Zeleznik cruised to the final 59-89.
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Eurocupbasketball.com