Nike ICJT L'Hospitalet report: Unicaja 69-81 Cibona
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Cibona became the first team to reach the Euroleague Basketball Nike International Junior Classification Tournament L’Hospitalet semifinals by beating Unicaja 69-81 in Group C on Friday. Cibona registered its second win in as many games and will face either AXA FC Barcelona or Elan Bearnais Pau-Orthez in the next round. Meanwhile, Unicaja will try to fight for a prestigious win against DKV Joventut at 20:00 CET. Dino Hozdic paced the winners with 28 points on 12-for-19 two-pointers. Tomislav Zubcic added 21 points and 14 rebounds while Sven Smajlagic had 16 points for Cibona. Augusto Lima led Unicaja with 34 points and 16 rebounds while Ernesto Diaz added 10 points. Hodzic and Zubcic shined in the early going to give Cibona a 6-10 lead but back-to-back baskets by Miguel Lorenzo ignited a 13-0 Unicaja run that Ernesto Diaz capped with a wild fast break dunk, good for a 19-10 lead. Lima stepped up with consecutive jump hooks for a 23-11 Unicaja lead after 10 minutes. Smajlagic hit a triple while Leon Radosevic added a fast break dunk to make Unicaja call timeout at 23-18. Unicaja kept running its offense through an unstoppable Lima. Even with that, back-to-back triples by Hodzic and Toni Brnas brought Cibona within 37-35, but Lima scored again to fix the halftime score at 39-35. Cibona got back in the game early in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Hodzic followed a big triple with a wild dunk to give his team a 43-50 edge. Smajlagic stroke from downtown and Zubcic added a put-back basket, as Unicaja tried to get Lima involved. Smajlagic and Diaz traded free throws for a 52-61 score after 30 minutes. Unicaja struggled to beat its opponents' 2-3 zone defense. Meanwhile, Hodzic and Zubcic sealed the outcome, 55-70, midway through the fourth quarter. Unicaja got within 67-72 with 1:34 to go but failed to complete its comeback.
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Javier Gancedo, L'Hospitalet
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