MMCITÉ+ BRNO : KK ZLATOROG LAŠKO 77:75 (10:16, 31:39, 52:52)
Referees: Matějek, Nejezchleb, Karafiát (all CZE).
Audience: 205.
Venue: Ball games hall, Brno, (CZE).
Brno: Radulović 20, Barry 18, Primorac 11, Smith 10, Tomanec 9, Lelić 6, Jedovnický 3.
Laško: Barič 31, Miljković, Popović, Durnik all 9, Polutak 7, Macek 6, Zadnik, Vodiškar both 2.
The match begun slowly. Both teams were missing shots and the score after three minutes was 2:4. The rest of the first quarter continued in the slow pace. There were many lost balls and Laško led by six after the first period (10:16). The second period was different. The first seven minutes of the quarter were tied but than Laško’s guards made a few three pointers and raised their lead to eleven points. After a time-out of mmcité+ Brno South-Moravians cut the lead and continued to the second half with an eight-point deficit (31:39).
Brno jumped into the second half with a lot of energy and after five minutes got the lead (42:41). The next five minutes were tied again and the third quarter ended with a tie (52:52). The last ten minutes were heated. Both teams had plenty of fouls. Even though the last second were nerve wracking Laško lost by two and that means they continue to the finals. Brno finished in the semi-finals. Final score – 77:75.
Aleš Pipan, head coach of KK Zlatorog Laško: “First of all congratulations to my players for the win. It was very tough game for us. We had two big mistakes in the end of the game, we missed twelve free throws it was too much for a game in semi-finals. Congratulations also to the home team – Brno. They played both games at high level so I wish them good luck in the rest of the season in their national league.”
Dejan Jakara, head coach of mmcité+ Brno: “First of all, coach, thanks for the congratulations and I also congratulate you to entering the finals. I’ll have my fingers crossed for the Slovenian team. Laško is very tough opponent especially they have strong centers, strong guys. They made us a lot of problems with their offensive rebounds, they made us a lot of problems under the basket. They scored a couple of easy shot especially in the first half. Then in the second half it was better. But we made too many mistakes today to succeed.”
Kentwan Smith, player of mmcité+ Brno: “They came in and they played pretty hard. I think that we fought but we have more turnover than assist and they outrebounded us by a little bit so… with a good team like that it’s hard to come out and get the points spread that we needed against them.”
