ULEB Cup Draw profile: KK Zadar
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Ups and downs in the first part of the regular season and a perfect finish with three straight wins allowed KK Zadar to advance to the Last 32 as the second-placed team in Group I with a 6-4 record. Head coach Aca Petrovic’s team was a diverse squad with many scoring threats and a mix of experience and youth. Zadar opened the season with an extra session defeat in Kazan against Unics, 90-87, despite six players scoring in double figures. Back home in Week 2, Zadar downed PGE Turow Zgorzelec 85-74 with a great performance from beyond the arc – 11 of 21 – and 22 points collected by Corey Brewer and 21 by Todor Gecevski. Back-to-back travels saw Zadar remain winless on the road. The first was in the Netherlands for a 93-83 loss at the EiffelTowers and the second in Israel, where Hapoel took a thrilling 84-83 success with a free throw posted with 0.4 seconds remaining. Back in Croatia for the last game of the first round with Strasbourg, Zadar scored a huge 94-65 victory led by 25 points from Shamell Stallworth and his 6 bombs from downtown. Zadar reached an even record by topping Unics Kazan 76-64 in Week 6 as Jure Lalic and Stallworth collected 13 points apiece.  The last bad news arrived from Poland, they it against Turow Zgorzelec 77-72 again after an overtime forced with a basket from downtown posted by Brewer. The momentum changed in 2008, as Zadar started the new year thrashing at home EiffelTowers 84-65 behind 24 points from Julius Johnson. Then the team scored another huge 103-75 victory over Hapoel Jerusalem at Jazine Hall, with six players scoring in double figures. After this game, Zadar was already qualified for the Last 32 helped by win of EiffelTowers over Strasbourg. The club completed the regular season with its first away win in Strabourg, 74-83, behind 26 points from Johnson. Now Petrovic will have his players ready to stretch that streak into the Last 32 and beyond. A tough home floor for opponents to play on combined with a coach who believes in his players and players who know they can score could be the makings of an upset in the elimination rounds.
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