2008-09Regular SeasonRound 5
November 26, 2008 CET: 18:30
Local time: 18:30 BASKETBALL CENTER DRAZEN PETROVIC

Cibona bested Air Avellino 82-79

Nikola Prkacin scored 4of his 8 points in the final minute of overtime to give Cibona a hard-fought 82-79 victory at home over Air Avellino. Cibona blew a 10-point lead in the last five minutes of regulation, but won the game in the extra session. Avellino’s Tamar Slay made 2 foul shots with 30 seconds left to force overtime, but Travis Best could not nail a late triple which could have sent the game to another overtime. Davor Kus scored 23 points for Cibona, which improved to 4-1 atop Group A. Prkacin added 5 rebounds and 4 assists while Earl Calloway poured in 14 points. Vedran Vukusic scored 6 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a winning effort. Cibona next faces Maccabi Electra in Tel Aviv. Avellino dropped to 2-3 in the group despite 20 points from former Cibona star Chris Warren. Best added 11 points while Eric Williams chipped in 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Marin Rozic opened the game with two foul shots for the guests before both teams struggled to handle the ball which a series of turnovers. Slay knocked down a three-pointer for Avellino’s first score and Warren’s layup made it 2-5. After another Warren layup, Rozic drained a triple to knot the game at 9-9. Warren continued his fine first quarter with a three-ball to open a 10-14 lead and Williams’s foul shot gave the visitors a 12-17 advantage. But Kus converted a three-point play and Vukusic nailed a long ball as Cibona closed the first quarter on a 7-0 run for a 19-17 lead.

Mario Tusek gave Avellino back the lead to start the second with a triple and Warren’s next long ball made it 19-23. Cibona surged back again, however, with Rawle Marshall hitting 4 straight points and Luksa Andric’s basket completing a 9-2 run for a 28-25 Cibona cushion. Tusek hit another three-pointer to knot the game and Drake Diener made a three as well, but Prkacin’s basket left Cibona ahead 33-31 at the break.

Cibona started the better team out of the locker room with Kus knocking down a triple and Rosic making it 38-31. Avellino trailed 40-33, but Antonio Porta drained a three-ball. Calloway answered right back to make it 43-36. But Warren sandwiched three-balls around a Williams basket for a 0-8 run to push Avellino back ahead 43-44. Calloway reestablished the Cibona lead and Robert Troha hit again as the lead grew back to 47-44. But the sea-saw affair continued with Nikola Radulovic’s long ball giving the visitors the lead one more. Jared Homan evened the score before Calloway converted a Best turnover into a three-pointer and then stole the ball from Best again and laid it in for a 54-49 advantage, which Radulovic cut to 54-51 after three periods.

Andrea Crosariol dunked to start the fourth before Troha’s triple. Avellino missed two long balls and Marshall hit to make it 59-53. After Warren’s three was off target, Kus nailed a long ball and the lead suddenly was 64-55. Warren threw down a dunk on the other end but Homan converted a three-point play and Cibona had its first 10-point lead – 67-57 – with five minutes left. Williams made three foul shots and Cibona turned the ball over, allowing Williams to bring Avellino to within 67-62 on a layup. Kus was the beneficiary of an offensive rebound and made it 69-62. Best made two foul shots and then a layup as the deficit was down to 70-64. Cibona turned the ball over again and an inside lay-in by Williams cut it to 70-68 inside the final two minutes. Prkacin missed an inside layup and Slay knocked down 2 foul shots – stepping in for the injured Diener – to even the game at 70-70 with 30 seconds left. Marshall missed a three and Rozic’s jumper was off at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

Kus’s lay-up started the extra session and then Homan made it 74-70 following a Porta turnover. Best converted a three-point play, but Slay turned the ball over after Avellino twice had grabbed offensive rebounds. Kus then made a layup to make it 77-73. Best cut the deficit to 2 with a layup and then Diener made 2 foul shots to knot the game again at 77-77 with just over a minute left. Prkacin scored on a layup for the hosts, but Williams was unable to hit at the other end and Prkacin was fouled and made both foul shots to make it 81-77. Diener made 2 free throws at his end and Calloway made just 1 foul shot to make it 82-79 and give Avellino a chance to force another overtime. But Best missed a three-pointer and Diener turned the ball over to end the game.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Euroleague.net
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Referees: ZAVLANOS, NIKOLAOS; BULTO, VICENTE; SHULGA, BORIS
Attendance: 5000
By Quarter1234Extra 1
Cibona1914211612
Air Avellino171420199
End of Quarter1234Extra 1
Cibona1933547082
Air Avellino1731517079
Cibona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 HOMAN, JARED 22:11 9 4/6   1/1 1 5 6 1   3     2 2 11
5 KUS, DAVOR 32:04 23 5/7 2/7 7/9 1   1 2   1     4 7 19
7 LONGIN, BRANIMIR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 PRKACIN, NIKOLA 22:49 8 2/6 0/1 4/6   5 5 4   1     2 3 10
9 TROHA, ROBERT 19:18 7 2/3 1/1             1   1 1   3
11 VUKUSIC, VEDRAN 34:01 6 1/3 1/3 1/2 5 6 11   1 1     3 3 12
12 ANDRIC, LUKSA 10:59 2 1/2       2 2           1 1 3
13 CALLOWAY, EARL 30:52 14 3/7 2/7 2/4 2 1 3 1 2 1     1 3 10
15 ZUBCIC, TOMISLAV DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 PRINC, VEDRAN 4:30               1         1    
20 ROZIC, MARIN 20:52 7 1/3 1/4 2/2 3 1 4   2 2     1 2 7
23 MARSHALL, RAWLE 27:24 6 2/7 0/3 2/2 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 3 1  
Team           3   3               3
Totals 225:00 82 21/44 7/26 19/26 16 22 38 10 6 11 1 2 19 22 78
        47.7% 26.9% 73.1%
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
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
Air Avellino
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 WARREN, CHRIS 32:55 20 3/8 4/7 2/2   4 4 3   1   1 3 4 18
5 RADULOVIC, NIKOLA 15:47 5 1/1 1/2             1     3    
6 PORTA, ANTONIO 14:40 3   1/3           1 2     2 1 -1
8 BEST, TRAVIS 30:20 11 4/7 0/4 3/3 2 3 5 4   3     3 3 10
10 CINCIARINI, DANIELE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 CROSARIOL, ANDREA 14:52 4 2/3       1 1     1 1   3 1 2
12 LISICKY, PETER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SLAY, TAMAR 33:24 9 2/5 1/5 2/2   6 6 2 1 3     3 1 6
17 TUSEK, MARKO 29:13 6 0/1 2/7   3 3 6 1 1 3         5
20 WILLIAMS, ERIC 30:08 12 4/5   4/6 2 4 6     2     3 4 14
21 DIENER, DRAKE 23:41 9 1/1 1/2 4/4 2 2 4 1 1 1 1   2 5 17
30 NARDI, MIKE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 225:00 79 17/31 10/30 15/17 10 24 34 11 4 17 2 1 22 19 73
        54.8% 33.3% 88.2%
Head coach: MARKOVSKI, ZARE

Head Coaches

PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
Cibona
"It was an extremely difficult game to play and also to watch. We missed a lot of shots that we usually make at home in the first half, so we could not manage to build a lead. We had enough concentration to play good defense, though. At the end, we had couple of chances to end this game earlier than it eventually took us. This is an important win. It was the first Euroleague game we had to win. Avellino is a tough team and they are capable of winning three more games, which means we need to win two more to be sure to go to Top 16. It is a difficult group, and you have to be at your best in every game if you want a chance to win."
MARKOVSKI, ZARE
Air Avellino
"We played the way we wanted to. We shot a better percentage from the field and from the free-throw line, but did not manage to match Cibona's intensity on the offensive and defensive glass. Due to that and our turnovers, Cibona had a lot more possessions, and that determined the winner of this game. We had shorter rotations because of some health issues of our players, and Cibona had more rested players for a 45-minute game. This is a very important victory for them, and it would have been very important for us too."

Players

CALLOWAY, EARL
Cibona
"Avellino is a tough team. We were able to pull it off in the end, we played well, but my hat is off to them. We had a 10-point lead, let it slip away a little bit but gained focus to win the game. The main thing is we won."
BEST, TRAVIS
Air Avellino
"Cibona is a strong team, it was a hard-fought battle and they made enough plays to win the game. People now know we are a serious Euroleague team. I heard in a paper here in Zagreb that they were not giving us much of a chance, but we let everyone know we can play. We had three guys with some physical problems. We know we are a Top 16 contender, but is up to other people to realize that."
DIENER, DRAKE
Air Avellino
"This is a difficult road loss in overtime. We feel that we should have won the game. Cibona played tougher than we did. They had more offensive rebounds, we turned the ball over and they did not. They played harder and smarter than we did, and that is how you lose games even when you have a better shooting percentage. But they made up for the missed open shots by rebounding and not turning over the ball. I passed the ball to Eric Williams on the possession to put the game in second overtime. If I had to do it again, I would have done it again. Eric made a lot of big plays for us, and that one just did not fall for him."
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