Cedevita Olimpija only kept pace with Igokea for a minute and a half, when the result was tied at 2:2 once in the match. In the middle of the 1st quarter, the opponents were already running by six points. The club from Laktašev only increased the advantage in the first half, in the 16th minute they were already at +16 (40:24).
They are after the break dragons played better and towards the end of the 3rd quarter they steadily reduced the deficit, which they reduced to only 3 points (52:55), but what if Igokea took the lead again by ten in the remaining two minutes. The last quarter was a mere formality and Igokea advanced to the semi-finals of the Super Cup with 75:65.
The bright spot of Olympia was the first scorer Karlo Matkovićwho contributed as many as 21 points in 28 minutes of play, the returner also did well in the attack Jaki Blažič with 16 points. Igokea remained loyal to the team approach, four players exceeded the limit of ten points, the maximum 14 of them scored Nikola Tanaskovićwho played only half the match.
A single defeat in six games in the pre-season
Simone Pianigiani’s troupe without a doubt there is still a lot of work to be done, even if in the renewed line-up they achieved five victories in six preparatory matches. Jaka Blažič and Gregor Glas were the last to join the team after the World Championship.
Due to injury and illness, Nikola Radičević trained according to a special program. Karlo Matković and Luka Ščuka also had some problems. Zoran Dragić did not travel with the team to Podgorica.
“I don’t expect anything special from the tournament, because the pre-season is still going on for us. Contrary to some, we did not have the entire team available for practically the entire preparation. For us, the most important thing is to see how the players react to situations on the floor. Three days of games will give us a lot of information on what we need to improve before the regular season starts. We are aware that we still have a long process ahead of us,” new coach Simone Pianigiani told the club’s website.
ABA LEAGUE – SUPER CUP, Podgorica
Quarter Finals:
Cedevita Olimpija – IGOKEA
65:75 (17:27, 15:17, 21:18, 12:13)
100; Matkovic 21 (7/14 for two), Blažič 16, Cobbs 9, Sow 7; Tanasković 14, Milosavljević 13, Marić and Jošilo 10 each.
PARTISAN – Mega
89:78 (25:25, 26:18, 16:24, 22:11)
THE FUTURE – Zadar
70:58 (15:14, 18:13, 17:13, 20:18)
FMP – SC DERBY
75:93 (15:24, 18:22, 20:23, 22:24)
Semi-final, Tuesday at 18:00:
IGOKEA – PARTISAN
At 21:00:
FUTURE – SC DERBY
For ranking from 5th to 8th place, Tuesday at 12:00:
CEDEVITA OLYMPIA – MEGA
At 15:00:
ZADAR – FMP
