2002-03Regular SeasonRound 1
October 15, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 HALA FMP

Zeleznik of Yugoslavia became the first home winner in the ULEB Cup when it walloped visiting Opel Skyliners of Germany 82-60 in a Group B game at Belgrade on Tuesday. Zeleznik held comfortable leads through much of the game thanks to big man Ognjen Askrabic, who had most of his game-high 22 points early. Askrabic was quite efficient, making 6 of 8 two-pointers and 3 threes in as many tries. He also pulled a team-high 7 rebounds and dished off three assists. Shooting guard Ivan Zoroski added 19 points for the winners, including 9 of 11 free throws, while big man Goran Nikolic contributed 10 points. For Skyliners, only Stipo Papic was on his game, scoring 17 points to go with 7 rebounds, both highs for the team from Frankfurt.

The first period ended almost equal, 17-16 for Zeleznik, with lot of misses on both sides of the court. The teams were nervous, especially Zeleznik, who had the preasure to show the home fans its strength in the ULEB Cup opener. Well, those fans got everything they could ask for after those first 10 minutes. The hosts showed real fireworks in the second period, drilling shot after shot until they had won the quarter 30-9 and put the game virtually out of reach for Skyliners. Askrabic and Zoroski were at their best supported by Nikolic and Veselin Petrovic. Papic tried to keep Skyliners alive but none of his teammtes could break free and the halftime margin stood at 47-25 even after Zeleznik missed a trio of three-pointers in the final 2 minutes.

After the half, Skyliners could get little going to make up ground and thus arrived to minute 27 down 57-37. Soon Zoroski added a three-pointer for a 62-40 lead, though the guests were able to cut that to 62-44 at the end of 30 minutes. There was no drama in the final quarter. Askrabic continued dunking and making seven-meter bombs. Zoroski, Nikolic and Reggie Freeman assisted him. Pascal Roller and Alex King were under wraps and Skyliners knew they would have to wait for another night to take their first ULEB Cup win. A total of 60 points will not accomplish that, as Zeleznik's defense turned out to be as good as its long shooting.

Tuesday, October 15, 2002
Aleksandar Ostojic, Belgrade
No results found.
Referees: CAZZARO, STEFANO; PIMENTEL, ANTONIO; MOUZAKIS, COSTAS
Attendance: 3000
By Quarter1234
FMP Belgrade17301520
Opel Skyliners1691916
End of Quarter1234
FMP Belgrade17476282
Opel Skyliners16254460
FMP Belgrade
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 POPOVIC, BOJAN 14:00 6 1/2 1/1 1/2         2         2 8
5 PETROVIC, VESELIN 23:00 7 1/1 1/5 2/2   1 1 1 2 1     3 2 5
6 ZOROSKI, IVAN 26:00 19 2/3 2/4 9/11 1   1 3 1       4 9 24
7 FREEMAN, REGGIE 28:00 4 2/5 0/2     3 3 3 2 1     2   4
8 BRATIC, SASA 18:00 7 2/4 1/1   1   1 1           1 8
9 ILIC, MILE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 PLISNIC, VANJA 17:00   0/2 0/2   2 3 5     1 1   2 1  
12 NIKOLIC, GORAN 24:00 10 3/5   4/4   3 3 5 1       4 3 16
13 ALIAKSEYEU, MIKALAI 13:00 4 2/3     2 1 3   1   1   2 1 7
14 ASKRABIC, OGNJEN 26:00 22 6/8 3/3 1/2 1 6 7 3   4 1 1 4 3 24
15 MARKOVIC, MIROSLAV 11:00 3 1/4   1/2   1 1   2       1 2 3
16 POPOVIC, SLOBODAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                                
Totals 200:00 82 20/37 8/18 18/23 7 18 25 16 11 7 3 1 22 24 99
        54.1% 44.4% 78.3%
Head coach: PETROVIC, ACO
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
Opel Skyliners
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 KWIATKOWSKI, ANDRZEJ 11:00 3 1/2 0/1 1/2 2 1 3 1   2     1 1 2
5 WILLIAMS, BRANDON 34:00 8 0/2 2/6 2/2   3 3     3     3 2 1
6 KASUN, MARIO 20:00 8 3/6   2/4 1 2 3   1 2 1 1 4 3 4
8 GARRETT, ROBERT 19:00 8 4/7 0/2   1   1 1   2   1 4   -2
9 HENNEN, DOMINIK 20:00 2 1/2       1 1   2       3 2 3
10 MATINEN, JUKKA 13:00   0/2 0/1     3 3 1   3     1   -3
11 ROLLER, PASCAL 33:00 5 1/2 1/2 0/2 1 1 2 1   5     3 4  
12 PAPIC, STIPO 27:00 17 7/8 1/2 0/5 3 4 7     4     3 5 15
13 MARAS, ROBERT 20:00 7 2/4   3/4 2 2 4     1   1 2 4 8
14 KING, ALEX 3:00 2 1/1                         2
Team                                
Totals 200:00 60 20/36 4/14 8/19 10 17 27 4 3 22 1 3 24 21 30
        55.6% 28.6% 42.1%
Head coach: HERBERT, GORDON
This game has no play by play yet

Head Coaches

PETROVIC, ACO
FMP Belgrade
"I want to thank to all my players because they congratulated me on my birthday in the best possible way. They fullfilled on the court the plan from the dressing room. I am happy to win the opener and we will keep on from here."
HERBERT, GORDON
Opel Skyliners
"Ivan Zoroski stopped all our attacs. He played hard, pressing our playmaker. Zoroski and Askrabic were the best performers. It is extremely hard to win a game when your team is losing by 22 at halftime. We tried something in the third period and it was the only quarter when we played well. Other three quaters we forgot to play our game."

Players

NIKOLIC, GORAN
FMP Belgrade
"We all played well. It was the game our head coach insisted on. We are all happy because this opening win is a birthday gift to Coach Petrovic."
PAPIC, STIPO
Opel Skyliners
"We tried to do something but it was mission imposibble because Zeleznik is a team made of extremely good individual talents. This kind of loss is a surprise for us. We will try to play better in future games."
No results found.