BC GEOSAN Kolín – KK Ilirija 80:89 (19:20, 18:27, 24:22, 19:20)
Referees: Trmal, Štokič, Axmann (all Austria)
Attendance: 158
Scorers – Kolín: Číž and Bošković each 19, Štegbauer 13, Halada 8, Novák 6, Goga and Veljković each 5, Štěpán 2, Merta 0
Scorers – Ilirija: Ferme 21, Orel 16, Arslanagić 15, Klobučar 13, Mikuš 11, Kures 6, A. Gustin 5, Gorišek 2, Padjen and E. Gustin 0
The first quarter was quite open as neither team gained a significant lead. The main character of the first quarter was Adnan Arslanagić from Ilirija, as he made two threes and organized the whole Slovenian offense while adding four assists in the first quarter. The following quarter continued in the same manner as the first, but the man in charge of Ilirija´s offense became Tadej Ferme this time (he also got four assists as his teammate). The Slovenian side began to take over the game because Kolín was lacking energy, on the contrary, the guests played with much more enthusiasm, which gave them a double-digit lead at the end of the first half.
The difference in score reached 16 points in the middle of the third quarter, which spurred Kolín to improve their play, and they managed to get back in the game shortly after the start of the last quarter. This was fueled by Adam Číž and Zdravko Boškovič, as the first made two threes and the second was a constant threat in the paint. Unfortunately for Kolín, this improved performance was short lived, as especially Číž tried to save the home team with his threes as he ended the game with a shooting of 5/17 behind the three-point arc. Ilirija was up by 9 points less than 2 minutes before the end, and it appeared that the game was over, but Novotný dramatized the ending with his three as he cut their lead to just 6 points. However, Ilirija handled the last minute with ease and brought the match to a victorious end.
Post-game quotes:
Predrag Benáček, coach Kolín: “Congratulations, Ilirija you were better, you led the whole game. You played with more energy, you are young, and you ran more. We are tired, what can I say, It’s 3 games in 5 days for us, and we don’t have the youngest team. A well-deserved win. We just have to get on with it and move on.”
Lukáš Štegbauer, player of Kolín: “Unfortunately, the game didn’t go well. From the beginning, we pulled the short end of the stick, and we said before the game that we would give everything we could and that we wanted to make up for the terrible game against Brno, and unfortunately, we repeated what we did against Brno, and we faltered towards the end. It was by 3, 4 points, but just bad luck and also our lack of concentration, so it ended up the way it did by 9 points, and we have to learn from that and go for the win in the next game.”
Stipe Modrić, coach of Ilirija: “We came without six players, but these guys with whom we played today were really excellent, and they deserved to win in the end. So I think this is a good win for us.”
Žiga Gorišek, player of Ilirija: “There were only eight of us here. We played well. Also, the opposing team played well, and that’s all.”
