Major upset in Višnjik – Zadar beat Budućnost VOLI
In the only game of ABA League's Monday programme, Zadar have outscored Budućnost VOLI at home in Krešimir Ćosić Arena and are continuing to fight for a spot in the upper half of the standings.
Zadar team (Photo: Zadar/Zvonko Kucelin)
In the only game of ABA League's Monday programme, Zadar have outscored Budućnost VOLI at home in Krešimir Ćosić Arena and are continuing to fight for a spot in the upper half of the standings.
ABA League Regular Season, Round 15, Monday, 26.12.2016:
ZADAR – Budućnost VOLI 78:76 (28:13, 19:27, 16:23, 15:13)
Game recap: Zadar have beaten Budućnost VOLI at home court of Krešimir Ćosić Arena and thanks to this upset, they are staying in the race for one of the places in the upper half of the ABA League standings. The Dalmatian squad have made an important part of their job right at the start of the game and even though the guests threatened to turn the game around in the fourth period, they managed to stay in front until the end. This defeat endangers the ambitions of the Podgorica squad of reaching the Playoffs, since they have wasted an opportunity to pull away from Cedevita and Cibona by one victory at the moment.
Key moments: Zadar went off to a blistering start and they have done the majority of their job in the battle for a pair of points by the 11th minute of the game, when their lead rose to 18 points (31:13). Budućnost VOLI did fight back, even managed to get in front in the ending of the game, however Zadar managed to keep the two points at home.
With 2 minutes remaining Ivan Ramljak scored to give Zadar a 77:76 lead and eventually none of the teams managed to score from the field until the very end. Marcus Williams had a chance to win the game for Budućnost VOLI with a second remaining, but his jumper missed the target.
Man of the match: It was a phenomenal night in Višnjik for Zadar big man Ivan Marinković, who turned out to be a true leader of his team once again. He scored 22 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, dished out 2 assists and stole a ball, to collect a total valuation of 27, the highest of the game. He is of course our man of the match.
Can't trick the stats: Since Zadar were better by only 2 points, it is completely natural that they have not been dominant in any of the statistical categories – however, they were slightly better in field goal shooting percentages (a total of 53% against 50% of Budućnost VOLI), which made a crucial difference for them in the end.
