EC: Defeats for Budućnost and Cedevita at the Top 16 opening day
Budućnost VOLI and Cedevita have suffered defeats at the opening of the EuroCup Top 16, to Lokomotiv Kuban and Dolomiti Energia Trento, respectively.
Buducnost VOLI team, Aleksandar Dzikic (Photo: Buducnost VOLI)
Budućnost VOLI have suffered a home defeat at the opening of the Top 16 of the EuroCup season. They have demonstrated fantastic performance in the first half, led by 13 points against Russian powerhouse at the break, but then allowed the guests to come up with a major comeback in the third quarter. Russians have made 26:9 run in the third, which turned things completely upside down. In the last quarter they held on to their lead and celebrated a final 68:62 win. Zoran Nikolić and Nikola Ivanović led the way in scoring for Budućnost VOLI with 12 points scored apiece.
In the other game in Group G, a similar story occurred in Trento. Cedevita dominated the first half, led by 11 points at the break, but fell in the second part of the game to the home Dolomiti Energia Trento side. The crucial one was the final quarter, where the hosts prevailed by no less than 17 points! In the end, the score was 83:72 in favour of the Italian side. For Cedevita, the most efficient players were Roko Leni Ukić and Demetris Nichols with 15 points scored each.
EuroCup Top 16 Group G, Round 1, Wednesday, 3.1.2018:
Budućnost VOLI – LOKOMOTIV KUBAN 62:68 (16:16, 21:8, 9:26, 16:18)
Z. Nikolić & Ivanović 12 | Broekhoff 15, Ragland 11.
DOLOMITI ENERGIA TRENTO – Cedevita 83:72 (13:23, 18:19, 25:20, 27:10)
Hogue 27, Shields 17 | Ukić and Nichols 15.
STANDINGS:
| Group G | W | L | PTS+ | PTS- | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Dolomiti Energia Trento | 1 | 0 | 83 | 72 | 11 |
| 2. Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar | 1 | 0 | 68 | 62 | 6 |
| 3. Budućnost VOLI | 0 | 1 | 62 | 68 | -6 |
| 4. Cedevita Zagreb | 0 | 1 | 72 | 83 | -11 |
