SLUNETA Ústí nad Labem – KK Adra Oil Škrljevo 81:60 (20:11, 19:22, 17:17, 25:10)
Referees: Margala, Doušek, Uhrin (all Slovakia)
Attendance: 305
Venue: Sportcentrum, Ústí nad Labem
Scorers – Ústí nad Labem: Fait 18, Pecka 14, Svejcar 12, Bohuslav 9, Alston and Johnson each 8, Autrey 7, Karlovský 3, Haiblík 2
Scorers – Škrljevo: Barnjak 14, Jelenković 10, Stojanović and Vrgoč each 8, Hortman and Vučić each 7, Cosić, Rajčič and Sajin each 2
The beginning of the game was careful from both teams, but after 6 minutes came a scoring run from Sluneta to 14:8 and guests had to take a time-out. After the first quarter, where Sluneta led 20:11, the guests put much bigger pressure on the ball and came back. The game was getting harder and that caused problems for Škrljevo. The fans could see more technical fouls than usual, because of that the best player from Škrljevo – Barnjać was in foul trouble with 4 personal fouls already during the second quarter. And there were more, the point guard from Škrljevo became two technical fouls, and so he had to leave the field. Halftime ended with the lead of Sluneta 39:33.
The halftime break didn´t help and a game full of turnovers continued also in the third quarter. The guests were putting the ball under pressure and the home team was making a lot of turnovers. – 18! in 30 minutes. After 3 quarters, the score was 56:50. Sluneta began the last quarter with a 15:0 run and decided the game. Skrljevo, still missing the main point guard Jelenković, was not able to score for 6 minutes. The rest of the game was controlled by the team of Sluneta, even with young guys on the court.
Post-game quotes:
Jan Šotnar, coach of Ústí nad Labem: “It is very hard to say something about this game, it was one of our worst performances this season so far. In some moments it looked like we could not play basketball at all, luckily it didn t cost us a win.”
Lamb Autrey, player of Ústí nad Labem: “Definitely a tough game. We came out very flat in the first half. Turnovers that led to easy baskets for the opponent. But finally, second half we picked up the slack..got defensive stops and knocked down open shots which led us to get a good lead. Wasn’t the prettiest win, but after a long trip these past few days I think I speak for the entire Sluneta organization that we accomplished our goal in advancing to the next round of the cup and that’s always something to be proud about. Thanks to the fans as well that came out to show love and support. God Bless.”
Damir Rajkovic, coach of Škrljevo: “It was a hard game, we played very well for 30 minutes, then lost focus and didn’t play well, because we had problems with point guard position and that s why we had problems in offense and we had to play in short rotation. Good luck to Sluneta in the next games.”
Josip Barnjak, player of Škrljevo: “I want to congratulate Sluneta, I wish them good luck for the next games, for us, it is over in this group of AAC, we need now to focus on our home league. There is a lot of work in front of us.”
