2008-09Regular SeasonRound 1
November 25, 2008 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 SPORT CENTAR VISNJIC "KRESIMIR COSIC"

Zadar shook off a game-long challenge from visiting Maroussi Costa Coffee to prevail 87-79 in the Group A opener for both teams before 4,000 fans at Kresimir Cosic Sports Center in Croatia on Tuesday. Big bench scoring in the decisive third quarter helped Zadar zoom ahead by double digits, but the hosts needed all of that cushion avoid a Maroussi charge at the finish. Marlon Garnett sparked the hosts early and hit big free throws late to lead all scorers with 23 points. The bench duo of Hrvoje Peric and Deyan Ivanov added 18 and 17 points, respectively, to follow him, while Todor Gecevski downed 16 and pulled 6 rebounds. Maroussi got 10 points from big man Loukas Mavrokefalides and 16 more from Jarod Stevenson, but suffered from 18 turnovers, including some key ones down the stretch.

Zadar took control with an early shooting show led by Garnett. His back-to-back-to-back triples following one by Rok Stipcevic vaulted Zadar to a 14-7 lead after just 4 minutes. Shorter shots by Gecevski and Jere Macura pushed that to 18-10 before Billy Keys answered with his own back-to-back pair from the arc for Maroussi at 18-16. Andreas Glyniadakis completed the comeback for the visitors with a three-point basket-plus-free throw to make it 19-21 Maroussi after one quarter. Zadar kept tying early in the second quarter but Mavrokefalides kept Maroussi a step ahead until Peric's three-point play got the hosts a 30-29 lead. Back and forth they went on teh scoreboard, with a last tie forged by Peric broken when Konstantinos Charalampidis scored the last basket for Maroussi to make it 34-36 at halftime.

Mavrokefalides seemed to push Maroussi toward control with a three-point play to open the second half at 34-39, but Zadar quickly stormed back behind a big triple from Ivanov. Peric soon tied, his fourth game-tying basket in 10 minutes, and put Zadar back in front on a free throw, 40-39. Neither team would surrender as Stevenson drilled a triple and keys a layup to put Maroussi back up, 43-46, before Peric hit another go-ahead shot at 47-46. Gecevski and Peric finally let Zadar make a break with 8 poins between them in a 10-0 run that finished with a layup by Ivanov. Even with a buzzer-beating triple by Mavrokefalides, Zadar was up 64-56 after 30 minutes. The hosts pushed the advantage to 71-58 early in the final quarter on Ivanov's triple, but Maroussi mounted a 3-10 run including 5 points by Shawn Huff to get within 74-68. Mavrokefalides kept the pressure on with a pair of baskets to which Fanis Kampouras added his own to make it 78-74. Zadar went to Peric for free throws that Huff answered from downtown at 80-77. That seemed to set up a big finish, but in the final two minutes, Maroussi suffered 3 turnovers and Garnett made his free throws to let Zadar hold onto victory.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Eurocupbasketball.com
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Referees: BIRICIK, MURAT; KOWALSKI, MARCIN; JAVOR, DAMIR
Attendance: 4000
By Quarter1234
Zadar19153023
Maroussi Costa Coffee21152023
End of Quarter1234
Zadar19346487
Maroussi Costa Coffee21365679
Zadar
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 PERIC, HRVOJE 29:50 18 7/12   4/6 1 3 4 3 3 2     5 5 19
6 STIPCEVIC, ROK 33:14 7 0/1 2/5 1/2   2 2 4 3 3     3 4 9
8 JOHNSON, JUBY 16:03         1   1     1     1   -1
10 PROSTRAN, TONI 5:46     0/1         1 1 1     1   -1
11 GECEVSKI, TODOR 37:36 16 5/11 0/4 6/6 1 5 6 1 3   1   3 7 21
12 OLIVARI, SIME DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 RUZIC, TOMISLAV 10:56 2 1/1     1 2 3   2   1     1 9
15 MACURA, JERE 9:01 4 2/2   0/1   1 1     1     2 1 2
24 GARNETT, MARLON 35:31 23 1/2 4/6 9/9 1   1 1 2 1     1 7 29
44 IVANOV, DEJAN 22:03 17 3/3 2/5 5/9 1 3 4   1 2     2 6 17
Team                           1   -1
Totals 200:00 87 19/32 8/21 25/33 6 16 22 10 15 11 2 0 19 31 103
        59.4% 38.1% 75.8%
Head coach: PETROVIC, ALEKSANDAR
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
Maroussi Costa Coffee
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 STEVENSON, JAROD 30:47 16 1/2 4/11 2/2 2 3 5 1 2 1       3 18
5 KEYS, BILLY 26:40 8 1/1 2/5         2 6 3     4 2 8
6 CHARALAMPIDIS, KOSTAS 26:26 9 2/4 1/1 2/2   3 3   2 1   1 5 3 8
8 KOUMPOURAS, FANIS 16:00 4 1/3   2/2   1 1 3   2     1 2 5
9 HUFF, SHAWN 15:58 8 1/1 2/3   1 2 3 3 1 1     3 1 11
10 STEFANIDIS, CHRISTOFOROS 6:04     0/1         1         2   -2
11 MAVROEIDIS, DIMITRIOS 14:35 4 2/2   0/1   2 2 2   1     5 1 2
12 MAVROKEFALIDIS, LOUKAS 31:12 20 8/13 1/1 1/1 3 1 4     5   1 5 1 9
13 CALATHES, PAT 6:47 2 1/1 0/1     3 3           2 1 3
14 GLYNIADAKIS, ANDREAS 7:47 5 2/4   1/1   2 2     1     3 3 4
15 KAIMAKOGLOU, KOSTAS 17:39 3 0/1 1/2     1 1 3 1 3   1 1 1 2
17 PAPANTONIOU, NONTAS 0:05                              
Team                                
Totals 200:00 79 19/32 11/25 8/9 6 18 24 15 12 18 0 3 31 18 68
        59.4% 44% 88.9%
Head coach: MARKOPOULOS, SOULIS

Head Coaches

PETROVIC, ALEKSANDAR
Zadar
"We had problems in passing ball in the first part of the game, but in te third quarter we started to play more aggressively and we managed to close the game. It is really important that we have won this game because on Saturday we have also a difficult game to play. I'm very satisfied that we won the game against Maroussi, which is the great team. I must say that I'm proud of my players and the way they played this game because they are under pressure. We have a lot of injured players."
MARKOPOULOS, SOULIS
Maroussi Costa Coffee
"This is the first game in Eurocup and we knew it would be hard to win but we thought that we would play much better than we did. In the first part of game we played good, but the second was disaster for us. We couldn't handle the pressure. Zadar went to a difference we could't erase. In the last quarter we tried to close the game but our main players had too many fouls so they couldn't play like they know. I congratulate Zadar and coach Petrovic."

Players

GECEVSKI, TODOR
Zadar
"It was a very hard game. We were under big pressure after our loss in Podgorica. We didn't have enough players in rotation due to injuries that struck our team. Maroussi is a good team. They are really fast but we managed to stop their offense. In the second part we played better defense but we couldn't go to more than 10 points of difference. This is a big victory for us because it is important to win all home games and hopefully one on the road to go to next round of competition."
HUFF, SHAWN
Maroussi Costa Coffee
"It was a hard game for us. I don't know what has happened to us in the third quarter, in which we played terrible. We tried to play defense but Zadar kept the pressure and went to 10 points difference. We tried to come back but that was very hard when you are playing on the road."
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