Zalakeramia ZTE KK vs. KK Skrljevo
79:72 (13:14, 35:33, 50:53)
Referees: Pálla, Boros, Csák (all HUN).
Audience: 500.
Venue: Zalakerámia Sport- és Rendezvénycsarnok, Zalaegerszeg (all HUN).
Scorers Zalakeramia ZTE KK: Ware 23, Gliebov 14, Thompson 12, Agafonov 10, Szabó 5, Papp 4, Doktor 4, Gulyás 3, Bagó 2, Kis 2.
Scorers KK Skrljevo: Williams 14, Krajina 13, Stemberger 10, Usic 10, Yacoubou 8, Lebo 7, Kucan 3, Cvitkovic 3, Krstanovic 2, Spence 2.
Gallery & Statistics
Zalakerámia ZTE KK played their third home game against Croatian BC Adriaoil Skrljevo who had only two home games so far in the league – both of them was won by them, the first against ZTE by 8 points. The guests did not start their season well in their home league, currently holding position 11 in Prva Liga. ZTE are fourth in Hungarian League with 5 wins and 3 losses and are looking forward to an important away game against 7th Sopron at the weekend.
As it was promised earlier, Tamás Bencze, head coach of ZTE decided to start the game with a young player, Raul Kis in the starting five who started the score with a dunk after 0-4. During the first quarter, Skrljevo was in the lead all the time, they finished with 13-14 after 10 minutes.
ZTE started with 4 youngsters and Thompson, but the guests were able to increase their lead (16:21) After being seven points down, Tamás Bencze decided to ask for a time-out and ZTE managed to play with a higher intensity and scored 9 points in a row. The result was 35-33 by the end of the first half of the game.
At the beginning of the third quarter, Szabó had three-pointer as an opener, but after that the guests were able to regain the lead for a while as they had a 10-point run. After that Dustin Ware started his one-man show, scoring 10 points in 3 minutes. However, at the end of the third quarter Williams had a 2+1 play, so the Croatians had the lead again. (50-53)
The decision was postponed to the end of the final quarter. Young player of ZTE, Gulyás hit a three-pointer, but Williams did the same on the other side. Ware scored from 8 meters, but Stemberger was also accurate twice, scoring 6 points from long-range shots. However, in the last minutes the Hungarians played with a higher intensity and the guests could not concentrate so well in their offense any more. Ware had his 5th 3-pointer and Thompson played his best in the last minutes of the game, as well. After 73-72 the Croatians were unable to score any more and ZTE executed the game well in the end, winning by 79-72.
Man of the game was Dustin Ware with 23 points, while Filip Krajina had a solid double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds from the Croatians.
Tamás Bencze, head coach of ZTE KK: “Congratulations to my team for the victory, but except for the last five minutes, we did not concentrate as we planned to. I could not give more chances to my young players because of their lack of defense. As they make these mistakes on and on, we need to put more focus on these problems. However, in my opinion it was a well-deserved victory for us, especially because of the last five minutes when we made better decisions than our opponents. All in all, this game was great preparation for our match at the weekend in Sopron.”
Damir Rajković, head coach of Skrljevo: “Congratulations to ZTE for the victory. We had good parts but unfortunately we had too many troubles in the end. Some referee’s decisions were not so common to us, so we lost our concentration and made many mistakes in the end. In defence we did not control Ware, who managed to score three-pointers in a row. However, we played better than in our last games, and I’m sure we will also be better in the upcoming Alpe-Adria games.”
Dustin Ware, player of ZTE KK: “We had a lot of trouble with rebounds during the game, but we got the ones that counted in the end. We made some great games in the last minutes, so we managed to win. This victory is precious, because Skrljevo is a good team.”
Filip Krajina, player of Skrljevo: “Although we were seven points up before the end of the game, ZTE got a very good finish. We lost our composure in offence, we had problems scoring and that is why we lost the game.”
