Olimpija finishes campaign on a high note

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana bid farewell to the 7DAYS EuroCup for the 2019-20 season with a 103-81 rout of Joventut Badalona on Wednesday night at Stozice Arena. The hosts dominated the second quarter 32-17 to lead 51-38 at halftime and opened the third quarter on a 20-2 tear to put the game on ice early. The result gave Olimpija a 4-6 record after it started the season with five consecutive losses. Joventut finished 5-5 and fell to fourth place in Group C. Jaka Blazic paced the winning attack with 18 points, Edo Muric scored 16, Marko Simonovic 14 and Codi Miller-McIntyre tallied 13 points and 11 assists. Klemen Prepelic and Perrin Buford led Joventut with 14 points apiece and Nenad Dimitrijevic added 13.

Prepelic put his mark on the game early with a pair of three-pointers to open the scoring. Olimpija came back through Muric to take the lead, 9-8. The lead changed hands several times more before Albert Ventura's triple put the visitors ahead by 4. Ryan Boatright's last-second triple made it 19-21 after 10 minutes. A Filip Kruslin three to start the second quarter put Olimpija back ahead. The hosts continued scoring to make it an 11-0 run with points coming from four different players. Prepelic ended a 4-minute scoring drought for Joventut to get within 28-23. Olimpija remained in control and extended the margin to 34-25 on a Blazic layup. Joventut twice narrowed the gap to 4 before Olimpija went on a 10-0 run that included a pair of threes by Blazic to lead 46-32. A three by Muric made it a 15-point game before Kerem Kanter scored to make it 51-38 at the break. It was all Olimpija to start the second half; Simonovic knocked down a pair of threes, Miller-McIntyre converted a layup-plus-foul and Blazic added a triple for a 63-38 advantage. Nikos Zisis ended the Joventut drought, however, Simonovic added another 2 triples for the hosts. Blazic's layup took the march to 22-2 and the lead to 73-40. Buford and Dimitrijevic revived the visitors, who went on a 2-15 push to get within 79-62 at the end of the quarter. Dimitrijevic made it a 15-point game before the hosts regrouped and threes by Mikael Hopkins and Kruslin made it 90-66. Little changed after that as Olimpija bid farewell to the EuroCup with an impressive victory.

An Olimpija record

Olimpija rewrote its record book with the club's highest-scoring game ever in the EuroCup. Its performance index rating of 130 is also a club record, while its 25 assists and 13 three-pointers made were each 1 shy of club marks.

Telling stat

Olimpija made 74.3 percent (26 of 35) of its two-point shots. Jaka Blazic was 3 for 3, Edo Muric 6 for 7 and Maik Zirbes 4 for 5. Such efficiency was tough for Joventut to keep up with.

What's next?

Olimpija will turn its attention to the domestic action from which it will attempt to earn a spot in the EuroCup again next season. Joventut will return to the EuroCup in January to compete in Top 16 Group H.