Adriatic League, Game 22: February 24-25, 2007 Partizan, Cibona and FMP join a three-way tie atop the Adriatic League standings each with a 17-5 record, as the playoffs get closer with four weeks to go in the regular season. Partizan thrashed Geoplin Slovan 69-97 on the road on Saturday. Boris Bakic and Novica Velickovic led the winners each with 17 points. Meanwhile, Cibona dropped to 17-5 due to a 93-89 road loss against Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade. Milan Gurovic led the winners with 19 points, Petar Popovic had 17 while Andrew Wisniewski had 23 points for Cibona. FMP also improved to 17-5 by downing Zadar 105-84 in Zeleznik on Saturday behind 24 points from Zoran Erceg. Hemofarm improved to 16-6 and got closer to clinch a playoff spot by overwhelming Split Croatia Osiguranje 51-89 on the road. Aleksej Nesovic had 17 points for Hemofarm, that outscored its opponents by by 19-58 in the second half. Union Olimpja dropped to 10-12 due to a 59-64 home loss against Helios Domzale in Ljubljana. In other games, Bosna Asa BHT edged Buducnost 85-80 while Zagreb topped Siroki Prima Pivo 74-62. Partizan joined the three-way tie atop the Adriatic League standings and improved to 17-5 by thrashing Geoplin Slovan 69-97 on the road on Saturday. Bakic and Velickovic led the winners each with 17 points, Kosta Perovic had 15 and Milenko Tepic 12 for Partizan. Slovan trailed 37-41 late in the first half, but Tepic and Velickovic shined in the third quarter to make Partizan get a 47-64 margin after three quarters. Partizan kept shining in defense and added a massive road win. FMP also improved to 17-5 by downing Zadar 105-84 in Zeleznik on Saturday. Erceg led the winners with 24 points. Marko Djerasimovic added 13, Bojan Krstovic had 12, Branko Cvetkovic 11 while Ivan Zigeranovic and Djordje Micic each tallied 10 for FMP. Rok Stipcevic had 22 points for Zadar, that stayed in the game in the first half and trailed 48-41 at the break. Krstovic and Erceg simply exploded in the third quarter, as FMP boosted its margin to 85-57 after three quarters and never looked back. Hemofarm improved to 16-6 and got closer to clinch a playoff spot by overwhelming Split Croatia Osiguranje 51-89 on the road. Nesovic had 17 points for Hemofarm, Milenko Topic added 16 and Predrag Suput 13 for the guests, that trailed 32-31 at the break. Things changed in the second half, as Hemofarm outscored its opponents by 19-58 and cruised to a key road win. Crvena Zvezda showed it is ready for its big ULEB Cup challenge against Real Madrid this Tuesday by beating Cibona 93-89 at home on Saturday. Gurovic led the winners with 19 points, Popovic had 17 while Antonio Burks and Tadija Dragicevic each had 12 for Zvezda. Wisniewski had 23 points for Cibona, Ivan Tomas added 18, Chris Warren 17 while Marin Rozic and Brent Wright each chipped in 11 for the guests. Steven Markovic, Vuk Radivojevic and Gurovic helped Zvezda to overcome an early deficit and get a 25-21 lead after 10 minutes. Cibona got a brief lead, 29-30, on free throws by Wisniewski, but the ever-present Gurovic had 6 late points to make Zvezda get a 51-45 halftime margin. Warren and Tomas led Cibona after the break, but a free throw by Popovic still allowed Zvezda to keep a 65-64 edge after three quarters. Burks and Gurovic fueled a 10-2 run that put Zvezda ahead for good, 75-66. Cibona got within 88-85 in the final seconds, but Burks hit 5 of 6 free throws to seal the win for the hosts. Union Olimpja dropped to 10-12 due to a 59-64 home loss against Helios Domzale in Ljubljana. Teemu Rannikko had 19 points for Olimpija while Goran Jurak added 13. Olimpija led 51-49 after three quarters but a game-breaking 2-13 run gave Helios a 53-62 lead. Olimpija got as close as 59-62 but failed to complete its comeback. LAST GAME GAME 22 - February 23-25, 2007 Day Match Result Feb. 24 Bosna ASA BHT vs. Buducnost 85-80 Feb. 24 Geoplin Slovan vs. Partizan 69-97 Feb. 24 Zagreb vs. Siroki Prima pivo 74-62 Feb. 23 FMP vs. Zadar 105-84 Feb. 24 Split CO vs. Hemofarm 51-89 Feb. 24 Crvena zvezda vs. Cibona 93-89 Feb. 25 Union Olimpija vs. Helios Domzale 59-64 NEXT GAME GAME 23 - March 3-4, 2007 Day Match Mar. 4 Helios Domzale vs. Bosna ASA BHT Mar. 3 Union Olimpija vs. Crvena zvezda Mar. 3 Cibona vs. Split CO Mar. 3 Hemofarm vs. FMP Mar. 4 Zadar vs. Zagreb Mar. 3 Siroki Prima pivo vs. Geoplin Slovan Mar. 3 Partizan vs. Buducnost STANDINGS TG W L P+ P- 1 KK Partizan 22 17 5 1834 1624 2 KK Cibona 22 17 5 1863 1729 3 KK FMP 22 17 5 1917 1794 4 KK Hemofarm 22 16 6 1791 1647 5 KK Buducnost 22 14 8 1797 1718 6 KK Crvena zvezda 22 12 10 1966 1865 7 KK Zadar 22 12 10 1869 1841 8 KK Helios Domzale 22 11 11 1719 1742 9 KK Union Olimpija 22 10 12 1794 1749 10 KK Bosna ASA BH TELECOM 22 9 13 1808 1890 11 KK Zagreb 22 8 14 1708 1742 12 HKK Siroki Prima pivo 22 7 15 1666 1810 13 KK Geoplin Slovan 22 2 20 1588 1877 14 KK Split CO 22 2 20 1649 1941 Sunday, February 25, 2007 Euroleague.net