Adriatic League, Game 25: March 15-16, 2008
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With two regular season games left, Partizan Belgrade has already clinched first place in the Adriatic League thanks to a 59-70 road win at next-to-last place Siroki as Uros Tripkovic scored 13 points. Second place is also spoken for as Zadar went on the road to stop third-place Hemofarm 74-83 as six scorers reached double figures for the visitors. After the game, Hemforam head coach Miroslav Nikolic resigned despite his team playing a second-leg finale in the ULEB Cup's Last 16 iwithin 72 hours. Hemofarm fell into a tie with Red Star and Union Olimpija. Red Star, warming up for its own ULEB Cup do-or-die game, downed 12th-place Helios 102-89 at home with Tadija Dragicevic exploding for 39 points. Olimpija was a 93-72 home winner over Zagreb as Miha Zupan and Ronell Taylor tallied 17 points each. Buducnost used 24 points from Nikola Otasevic to defeat visiting FMP 90-85 to forge a sixth-place tie between them. Eighth-place Cibona needed overtime at home to shake off last-place Slovan 86-84 as Chris Warren scored 18 points. In the only other game, 10th-place Split topped ninth-place Vojvodina 88-82 at home.
With star center Nikola Pekovic resting for the team's do-or-die Top 16 finale with defending Euroleague champion Panathinaikos next week, Partizan had its hands full at Siroki, falling behind 32-31 at halftime. A 2-8 start to the third quarter pushed Partizan to a comfoertable lead but Siroki pulled back to within 42-43. Partizan scored the next 5 points, however, as part of what would become an 8-24 run that meant a 50-67 scoreboard and no doubt about the outcome. Tripkovic was joined in double figures byonly Milenko Tepic, who had 11 points, while Slavko Vranes had 8 rebounds and 6 blocks for the winners. Ahead of another huge ULEB Cup game, Zadar dominated offensively from the start of its road game against Hemofarm, rolling to a 19-29 lead after a quarter thanks to an early barrage of three-point shots. That difference ballooned to 33-52 by halftime, putting the visitors were in full charge. Hemofarm reacted by winning the final two quarters, but not by enough points to seriously threaten Zadar's control of the scoreboard. Todor Gecevski led the winners with 16 points, while Juby Johnson added 15, Shammel Stallworth and Jere Macura 12 each, Corey Brewer and Rok Stipcevic 11 each. Zadar's shooters downedt 11 of 20 three-pointers. For Hemofarm, Vladan Vukosavljevic drilled 28 points, Rawle Marshall and Milivoje Bozovic 13 each.
Red Star got a career-best scoring explosion from Dragicevic but still had to come back in the fourth quarter at home to beat Helios. The hosts had a 37-point first quarter and led 57-46 at the half, but let Helios score 32 in the third quarter and therefore trailed by 76-78 going into the last. With Dragicevic scoring as he pleased, however, some defensive intensity let Red Star win by double digits. Dragicevic made 8 of 10 two-pointers, 6 of 9 triples and 5 of 7 free throws for his 39 points. Omar Cook added 18 and 10 assists, while Vujadin Subotic scored 11 more for the winners. Olimpija had impressive team scoring to stay up on Zagreb early, but the visitors used a 9-0 run to get within 36-35 and were still as close as 58-54 in the third quarter before Zupan and Jasmin Hukic used triples to let Olimpija pull away. Besides Zupan and Taylor, Olimpija got 15 points from Marko Milic and 12 each from Hukic and Goran Dragic.
After leading by just 51-47 at halftime, Buducnost took ever its battle for sixth place with FMP by using a 17-2 run to complte a a 29-12 onslaught in the third quarter for an 80-59 advantage. Unbelievably enough, FMP followed Dragan Labovic on a 2-22 rally in the final quarter to get as close as 86-84 before Bojan Bakic and Vladislav Dragojlovic resolved matters for Budnocnost. Draojlovic followed Otasevic with 15 pionts for the winners, while Vladimir Micov added 14 and Bakic 13. Labovic finished with 24 points for FMP, while Bojan Krstovic added 13. Chris Warren's free throws in overtime helped Cibona escape a potentially fatefull home loss to Slovan,w hich survived and sent the game to overtime thanks to DeMarco Johnson dominating inside to the tune of 32 points. To Warren's 18, Barisa Krasic and Luksa Andric added 13 points each for Cibona.
LAST GAME GAME 25
March 15-16, 2008 | | Day | Match | Result | | Mar. 15 | Split CO vs. Vojvodina | 88-82 | | Mar. 15 | Siroki vs. Partizan Igokea | 59-70 | | Mar. 16 | Union Olimpija vs. Zagreb | 93-72 | | Mar. 15 | Buducnost vs. FMP | 90-85 | | Mar. 15 | Cibona vs. Geoplin Slovan | 86-84 OT | | Mar. 15 | Crvena zvezda vs. Helios | 102-89 | | Mar. 15 | Hemofarm vs. Zadar | 74-83 |
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NEXT GAME GAME 26
March 19-23, 2008 | | Day | Match | | Mar. 22 | Vojvodina vs. Hemofarm | | Mar. 22 | Zadar vs. Crvena zvezda | | Mar. 19 | Helios Domzale vs. Cibona | | Mar. 22 | Geoplin vs. Buducnost | | Mar. 22 | FMP vs. Union Olimpija | | Mar. 21 | Zagreb CO vs. Siroki | | Mar. 23 | Partizan Igokea vs. Split |
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| STANDINGS | TG | W | L | P+ | P- | | 1 | KK Partizan Igokea (-1) | 24 | 22 | 2 | 1957 | 1725 | | 2 | KK Zadar | 25 | 18 | 7 | 2006 | 1915 | | 3 | KK Union Olimpija | 25 | 15 | 10 | 1981 | 1869 | | 4 | KK Hemofarm STADA | 25 | 15 | 10 | 1997 | 1927 | | 5 | KK Crvena zvezda | 25 | 15 | 10 | 2189 | 2138 | | 6 | KK Budućnost | 25 | 14 | 11 | 2010 | 1939 | | 7 | KK FMP | 25 | 14 | 11 | 2055 | 1993 | | 8 | KK Cibona (-1) | 24 | 14 | 10 | 1966 | 1945 | | 9 | KK Vojvodina Srbijagas | 25 | 12 | 13 | 1912 | 1925 | | 10 | KK Split Croatia osiguranje | 25 | 11 | 14 | 1951 | 1991 | | 11 | KK Zagreb Croatia osiguranje | 25 | 7 | 18 | 1964 | 2087 | | 12 | KK Helios Domžale | 25 | 6 | 19 | 1912 | 2039 | | 13 | HKK Široki Prima pivo | 25 | 6 | 19 | 1869 | 2001 | | 14 | KK Geoplin Slovan | 25 | 5 | 20 | 1832 | 2107 |
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