Adriatic League, Quarterfinal Playoffs, Game 1: March 25-26, 2008
|
 The four home teams all got a leg up in their Adriatic League quarterfinal playoff openers on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hemofarm Vrsac was the only team to win by more than 10 points as Zadar needed overtime to down FMP 95-91, Partizan Igokea topped Cibona 90-80 and Red Star bested Union Olimpija 93-87. A week before it’s Euroleague Quarterfinal Playoffs opener against Tau Ceramica, Partizan got 19 points and 7 rebounds from Nikola Pekovic, while Milt Palacio posted 14 points and 5 assists to lead the Serbian champs. Pankracije Barac not only scored a career-high 39 points, but forced overtime with a three-pointer and hit 2 more triples in the extra period to spur Zadar past FMP. Rawle Marshall had 25 points and 6 assists to push Hemofarm to an 87-71 win over Buducnost. In Wednesday’s lone game, Omar Cook shined with 32 points, 6 assists and a pair of clutch go-ahead three-pointers in the last two minutes to guide Red Star to victory.
Partizan Igokea topped Cibona 90-80 at Pionir Arena to take a 1-0 series lead. Partizan got 19 points and 7 rebounds from Nikola Pekovic, while Milt Palacio posted 14 points and 5 assists to lead the Serbian champs. Petar Bozic hit a pair of three-pointers during a 9-0 second-quarter run as Partizan the lead, which stood at 46-41 by halftime. Sam Hoskin brought Cibona within a basket midway through the third period, however five different Partizan players during a 12-1 response as the hosts went up 59-46 and never looked back. The Partizan lead grew to 16 before Chris Warren hit a few baskets down the stretch to make the final score more respectable. Dusan Kecman and Dejan Borovnjak added 10 points apiece for Partizan, while Warren had 19, Damir Mulaomerovic scored 18 and Luksa Andric 12 for Cibona.
Red Star bested Union Olimpija 93-87 behind brilliant performances from Omar Cook and Tadija Dragicevic. Cook shined with 32 points, 6 assists and a pair of clutch go-ahead three-pointers in the last two minutes and Dragicevic scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. The start of the game was topsy-turvy with Red Star going up 31-25 after 10 minutes only to get outscored 10-21 in the second period as Olimpija took control. An eventful third quarter finished when a Cook triple tied the score at 66-66. Jasmin Hukic and Dragicevic led their teams early in the fourth, but the game remained tight with multiple lead changes until Red Star used 12 unanswered points – half coming on Cook’s clutch threes – to take the lead for good on the way to the win. Elmedin Kikanovic added 14 points and Boris Bakic scored 13 for Red Star. Marko Milic paced Olimpija with 19, Hukic added 18, Ronell Taylor 15 and Maurice Bailey 10.
Pankracije Barac not only scored a career-high 39 points, but forced overtime with a three-pointer and hit 2 more triples in the extra period to spur Zadar past FMP 95-91. The game was close throughout with the score tied after 10 minutes (17-17) and 30 minutes (63-63) and Zadar led just 43-41 at halftime. Even after Barac tied the game at 82-82 to force extra time, neither team could pull away until Corey Brewer came through with 5 straight points to put Zadar up 95-88 and the hosts held on. Todor Gecevski matched his season-high with 26 points and Brewer finished with 11 for Zadar. Zoran Erceg paced FMP with 27 points, Dragan Labovic added 21 and Predrag Samardziski had 10 for FMP. Rawle Marshall had 25 points and 6 assists to push Hemofarm to an 87-71 win over Buducnost. Hemofarm led by double digits in the first period, but the visitors never quit. Buducnost’s Vladislav Dragojlovic converted a pair of baskets play to cut the gap to 61-57 early in the fourth quarter only to see Marshall score 7 during an 11-3 charge that ended the visitors’ hopes. Boris Savovic and Nebojsa Joksimovic netted 15 points apiece and Vladan Vukosavljevic added 12 for the winners. Nemanja Gordic scored 24 and Vladimir Micov had 12 for Buducnost.
| Quarterfinal Playoffs, best of 3 games |
| Record | Team | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | | 1 | Partizan Igokea (1) | 90 | March 27 | *March 29 | | 0 | Cibona (8) | 80 | - | - | | 1 | Crvena Zvezda (4) | 93 | March 29 | *March 29 | | 0 | Union Olimpija (5) | 87 | - | - | | 1 | Zadar (2) | 95 | March 27 | *March 29 | | 0 | FMP (7) | 91 | - | - | | 1 | Hemofarm Stada (3) | 87 | March 27 | *March 29 | | 0 | Buducnost (6) | 71 | - | - |
| Quarterfinal games | | Game 1 | Partizan Igokea vs. Cibona | 90-80 | March 25 | | Game 1 | Zadar vs. FMP | 95-91 OT | March 25 | | Game 1 | Hemofarm Stada vs. Buducnost | 87-71 | March 25 | | Game 1 | Crvena Zvezda vs. Union OLimpija | 93-87 | March 26 | | Game 2 | Cibona vs. Partizan Igokea | - | March 27 | | Game 2 | FMP vs. Zadar | - | March 27 | | Game 2 | Buducnost vs. Hemofarm Stada | - | March 27 | | Game 2 | Union Olimpija vs. Crvena Zvezda | - | March 29 | | Game 3 | Partizan Igokea vs. Cibona | - | *March 29 | | Game 3 | Zadar vs. FMP | - | *March 29 | | Game 3 | Hemofarm Stada vs. Buducnost | - | *March 29 | | Game 3 | Crvena Zvezda vs. Union OLimpija | - | *- |
|
|
Euroleague.net
|