Adriatic League, semifinals, April 25
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A pair of Serbian teams will play for their second Adriatic League title each after Partizan Igokea and Hemofarm Stada registered semifinal victories on the opening night of the competition's Final Four in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Partizan ruined the home crowd's party when it outlasted Union Olimpija 94-90 thanks to another monster performance from All-Euroleague nominee Nikola Pekovic, who poured in 31 points on 11-for-15 two-point and 9-for-11 free-throw shooting. Olimpija got within 2 points twice in the closing minute, but Milt Palacio and Dusan Kecman iced the victory with 4 perfect free throws between them. In the first semifinal, Hemofarm used a flurry of three-pointers that bridged the final quarters to beat Zadar 72-81. Miljan Macvan, Miljan Pavkovic and Stefan Markovic combined for 6 triples in as many minutes to turn Hemofarm's seven-point deficit into a 64-70 lead early in the final quarter. Pavkovic and Nebojsa Joksimovic led the winners with 13 points each. Juby Johnson hit 5 first-quarter three-pointers to lead Zadar with 19 points. Saturday's final in Ljubljana will be a replay of the 2005 Adriatic League final, won by Hemofarm. Partizan, however, is the defending champion.
Partizan jumped in front 9-2 before Olimpija showed its fans it was ready to play with a 0-7 run to tie on Jasmin Hukic's three-pointer. The scoring stayed at a high pace before Pekovic free throws let Partizan lead 25-22 after one quarter. Pekovic and Milenko Tepic stretched the lead again, but Miha Zupan and Maurice Bailey hit triples to trim it again for Olimpija, which finally went ahead by 41-45 at halftime. Partizan hammered the ball inside to Pekovic for 6 points shortly after halftime that turned around the scoreboard at 53-49. Partizan reached a double-digit edge on free throws by Novica Velickovic, but Bailey's triple cut the difference to 68-81 after three quarters. Pekovic and Velickovic regained the double-digit lead at 80-68, before Goran Dragic sparked an Olimpija rally that saw Ronell Taylor make it 84-81 with a three-point play in the next-to-last minute. Hukic struck again from downtown for a 90-88 score with under 30 seconds left, but Partizan's veterans made sure of the victory at the foul line. Uros Tripkovic added 17 points for the winners, Palacio 14, Kecman 13 and Velickovic 10. For Olimpija, Bailey had 24 poiknts, Taylor and Dragic 16 each.
Johnson had all of Zadar's points on three-triples plus the free throw that came with the third of them in an early 10-10 tie against Hemofarm. When he got downtown help from Corey Brewer, Zadar had its first lead, but took back-to-back Johnson three-pointers to keep their team ahead 24-20 after a quarter. Zadar's bench nursed the lead for a few minutes, but Joksimovic shot Hemofarm in front 31-34 from long range and Rawle Marshall kept it at 40-42 at the half. Hemofarm would lead by as much as 40-47 shortly after halftime before a 14-0 Zadar blast flipped the scoreboad to 54-47 on Andrej Stimac's 5 points in a row. Johnson had another triple in him at 57-50, however it was sandwiched between a pair by Macvan. When Pavkovic ended the third quarter hitting from deep, it was tied 62-62. He and Markovic opened the final quarter sharing a trio of long-range strikes that left Hemofarm in charge at 64-73, a lead that was not threatened the rest of the way.
| Final Four in Ljubljana, Slovenia - semifinals |
| Record | Team | Game 1 | | 1 | Partizan Igokea (1) | 94 | | 0 | Union Olimpija (5) | 90 | | 0 | Zadar (2) | 72 | | 1 | Hemofarm Stada (3) | 81 |
| Final Four games | | Game 1 | Partizan Igokea vs. U. Olimpija - semifinal | 94-90 | April 25 | | Game 1 | Zadar vs. Hemofarm Stada - Semifinal | 72-81 | April 25 | | Game 2 | Partizan Igokea vs. Hemofarm- Final | - | April 26 |
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