2002-03Regular SeasonRound 5
November 06, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 ZAVOD TIVOLI

Even though it played at home, Union Olimpija of Ljubljana took what is arguably the biggest upset of the week by defeating mighty Maccabi Tel Aviv 81-76 at Ljubljana on Thursday in Group A. The hosts had the game controlled in the third quarter with an 18-point lead, but Maccabi reacted then to erase the deficit and eventually jump ahead, 70-73 near the end, on a three-pointer by Derrick Sharp. But the strong defense of Olimpija together with the help of the fans that packed the Tivoli Arena allowed Vladimir Boisa to hit a providential triple with 1 minute to go that would give the game to the hosts. With the victory, Union Olimpija climbs in Group B to 4-1, tied for first place with Tau Ceramica, while Maccabi drops to 2-3, tied for fifth place with Montepaschi. Goran Jurak led the winners with 15 points, Jasmin Hukic and Vlado Ilievski added 13 apiece, Marino Bazdaric contributed 12 and Vladimir Boisa bagged 11. For the Maccabi, Quincy Lewis was the best man with 29 points, Derrick Sharp added 14 and Marcus Goree hit 11.

After the big welcome to Beno Udrih, who returned to the arena where he had played for the last two years, emotions were forgotten and the best offensive team of the league and the best defending team in Group B started the struggle for the win. The first minutes were for the Israelis who were ahead by 11-17 after a 0-11 run including two threes by Lewis. Coach Tomo Mahoric called a timeout which provoked the reaction that turned the game upside down. The same five that had started the game was back with an impressive 20-1 tear which had left Maccabi scoreless from minute 7 to 13 except for a free throw by Udrih. Olimpija had the game under control. With a good performance by Jurak with 13 points and 3 boards in 17 minutes, the first quarter ended 24-18.

The next 10 minutes looked even better for the hosts as captain Jasmin Hukic hit twice for three right as he stepped on court, to improve the score to 30-18. With a good accuracy from the free throw line by Roberts Stelmahers, Union Olimpija increased its lead to 13 points, 31-18, in minute 13. Goree was the first to score for Maccabi after 6 minutes, but next in line was Sharp who, with two threes and two free throws in a row, found again the scoring mood for his team. In a little more than 2 minutes, Maccabi was back with a 0-11 tear to cut the deficit down to 31-28. The second time that Mahoric called a timeout was the second reaction of the hosts. His instructions to attck the different defenses played by Maccabi were enough to let Union Olimpija pull away again. With the third three by Hukic, Olimpija was ahead by 11 at the break.

The first two baskets of the second half arrived from Marino Bazdaric and Boisa, which meant the 46-31. Coach David Blatt had even more problems when first Sharp and later Nikola Vujcic were called their fourth fouls, and had to sit on the bench. In minute 29, Olimpija still had a 12-point lead, 61-49, but it decreased to 5 only 2 minutes later, 63-58, thanks to a series of baskets by Lewis. Maccabi only needed two offensive plays to cut the deficit down to 1 point, 64-63, at the same time that the fans in Ljubljana saw that the worst was yet to come. 5 minutes later, a three by Lewis tied the score at 70-70, and another three-pointer by Sharp made it 70-73. Ilievski answered also from the arc, as there were only 2 minutes left. Hukic scored twice from the free throw line for 75-73, and in the next play, Boisa hit the three that put Olimpija ahead at 78-73 with only one minute to go. Maccabi looked for the three-pointer but Lewis missed and Josko Poljak grabbed the decisive board that took him to the charity line, where he only managed to score one of the two attempts. Vujcic played fast to hit for three again, 79-76. Sharp fouled quickly, and Stelmahers hit the two free throws that would leave Union Olimpija at 81-76 and the Tivoli arena celebrating the win as if they could not believe what had just happened.

Thursday, November 7, 2002
Ziga Bojc, Ljubljana
No results found.
Referees: KOUKOULEKIDIS, STELIOS; ARTEAGA, JUAN CARLOS; LAINIOTIS, SOTIRIOS
Attendance: 4100
By Quarter1234
Union Olimpija24182118
Maccabi Elite18132718
End of Quarter1234
Union Olimpija24426381
Maccabi Elite18315876
Union Olimpija
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 JURAK, GORAN 29:00 15 6/9   3/5 1 3 4 1 3 2     4 7 19
5 BAZDARIC, MARINO 19:00 12 2/7 2/2 2/2 1 3 4 1   1     2 1 10
6 ILIEVSKI, VLADO 38:00 13 2/3 3/6         4 4 1     1 2 17
7 BOISA, VLADIMER 30:00 11 1/3 2/4 3/4 2 5 7 1 1 1     3 5 16
8 MODRIC, STIPE 18:00 3 0/1 1/1   2 1 3     2     2   1
9 OZBOLT, SASO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 STELMAHERS, ROBERTS 23:00 7 1/2 0/3 5/6   1 1 2 1       1 4 9
11 POLJAK, JOSKO 11:00 1 0/3   1/2           3   1 4 1 -10
12 SMIGIC, DANILO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 DRYDEN, ROBERT DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 HUKIC, JASMIN 22:00 13 1/2 3/5 2/2   2 2   2     1 2 3 14
15 DUJMOVIC, PERO 10:00 6   2/3         1   1     4   1
Team                                
Totals 200:00 81 13/30 13/24 16/21 6 15 21 10 11 11 0 2 23 23 77
        43.3% 54.2% 76.2%
Head coach: MAHORIC, TOMO
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
Maccabi Elite
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 LUBIN, LIOR 16:00 5 1/2   3/4   1 1 3   3     3 3 4
5 LEWIS, QUINCY 34:00 29 6/12 4/8 5/6   2 2   1 2 1   3 5 22
6 SHARP, DERRICK 18:00 14 0/2 4/5 2/3   1 1   1       5 1 8
7 VUJCIC, NIKOLA 22:00 8 1/1 1/1 3/4 3 3 6 2 1 1     4 3 14
8 GOREE, MARCUS 37:00 11 3/3 1/1 2/2 4 1 5     3 1   3 4 15
9 SHELEF, GUR 11:00   0/1       2 2     1     2   -2
10 BURSTEIN, TAL 29:00 2 1/3 0/2     3 3   1 3     1 1 -1
11 HALPERIN, YOTAM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 BLU, DAVID 4:00                              
14 UDRIH, BENO 21:00 7 1/2 0/4 5/6   2 2 1 1 4       3 4
15 BESOK, HUSEYIN 8:00   0/1       1 1     2     2 3 -1
Team                                
Totals 200:00 76 13/27 10/21 20/25 7 16 23 6 5 19 2 0 23 23 63
        48.1% 47.6% 80%
Head coach: BLATT, DAVID
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

MAHORIC, TOMO
Union Olimpija
"We beat one of the best teams in Europe. Without a doubt, Maccabi has better players and a better team overall, but tonight we were better and I think we deserved the win. The secret of this win is the difference between the steals and turnovers and, of course, the defense in the last 10 minutes that allowed this. We shot very well, mostly from the three-point range, but Maccabi was also accurate in the last period. For such a young and unexperienced team as mine, playing like we did in the decisive moments is a great advantage, and without the help of our fans everything would be much more difficult."
BLATT, DAVID
Maccabi Elite
"We played bad during three quarters of the game. The last 10 minutes were better, but their three-pointers were too much to change the sign of the game. We had 19 turnovers, we had foul trouble and overall I think we did not deserve the win. Union Olimpija can do great things this year in the Euroleague."

Players

HUKIC, JASMIN
Union Olimpija
"I can hardly believe that we beat Maccabi. We played terrific in defense, because we knew that was our only chance. Whene we got close at the last minutes I thought we would lose like we did against Tau, but sure we learnt something from that loss. The fans were our sixth player and they had as much fun as we did."
UDRIH, BENO
Maccabi Elite
"Congratulations to Olimpija, they won in a great way in a tight ending where we had the advantage with experienced players. We had already had some problems with the defense and tonight we played really bad. Playing like this one cannot win the Euroleague."
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