The top three places will in the Euroleague Basketball Nike International Junior Classification Tournament Belgrade-JCT will stay in the host city after Mega Vizura topped Hemofarm Stada, from nearby Vrsac, Serbia, by 77-71 in the third-place game on Sunday. Vizura thrived inside, making 29 of 55 two-point shots, and led the entire game except one possession in the first quarter. Dusan Stankovic paced the winners with 21 points, while Nikola Tijanic added 17 and Milos Jankovic 12 plus 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists. Hemofarm got 18 points, 16 rebounds and 6 blocks from Nikola Milutinov, but could not stop Vizura long enough to challenge for the lead.
Vizura scored in bunches from the start, jumping out to a 7-0 advantage on Milos Lukic's three-point play. Hemofarm rallied to lead 16-17 as Luka Nikolic and Streten Knezevic shared 12 of their team's points thus far. Nonetheless, Vizura took control 25-19 after 10 minutes as Rade Zagorac blasted a three-pointer and then expanded the difference to double digits, 40-30, late in the second quarter. Zagorac did the honors with another late basket to supply the game's highest lead yet, 48-36, at halftime.
The difference climbed to 56-40 after the break before Hemofarm reacted. Ognjen Vasiljevic and Sinisa Cvetanovic had 9 points in a 0-11 run to get their team within 56-51, although Tijanic's 3 free throws just before the third-quarter buzzer left Vizura still in charge, 63-54. A three-pointer by Stankovic made it 68-54 early in the final quarter, and though Milutinov lowered that to 73-65 late, Vizura comfortably hung on to the victory for third place.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Euroleague.net
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