Seven-man Borac Mozzart squad win the overtime thriller vs. SC Derby

2024/25 AdmiralBet ABA League Round 15, Saturday, 4 January 2025:

BORAC MOZZART – SC Derby 78:76 (14:29, 21:11, 22:14, 12:15, 9:7)

PHOTO GALLERY

POST-GAME COMMENTS

Game recap: Borac Mozzart have overcome all problems that they were facing in the match against SC Derby and they seized a huge home win as they prevailed over the Podgorica squad in overtime.

The Čačak troops played this game with just 7 players, but these 7 brave men managed to come back from a 15-point deficit (14:29 after the 1^st quarter) and to win this overtime thriller.

Borac Mozzart have therefore surpassed SC Derby on the league table as they now have the overall score of 5-10, while SC Derby dropped to 4-11.

Key moments: On the way toward this precious victory, the home troops had to survive 3 three-point shots that SC Derby had to win the match. The visiting side had the final ball possession in the 4^th quarter, but their tonight’s top scorer Erick Neal missed a 3-point shot at the buzzer and the game went into overtime.

In the additional 5 minutes, Borac Mozzart gained a 4-point lead – 78:74, but then Erick Neal made a steal and scored an easy lay-up to reduce the gap to just 2 points – 78:76, with 35 seconds remaining on the game clock.

On the other side of the court, Borac Mozzart failed to score, so SC Derby had just over 10 seconds to try to win the game. The ball ended up in the hands of Luka Bogavac who missed a 3-point shot, but the same player made an offensive rebound and then passed the ball to Igor Drobnjak.

Drobnjak found space for an open 3-pointer, but he also missed the shot and the score remained 78:76 for Borac Mozzart.

Man of the match: Borac Mozzart forward Justas Furmanavičius played an exceptional match. He scored 21 points, made 5 rebounds and 2 blocks, while his overall index rating was 31.

Also, we have to add that Furmanavičius made a huge steal ‘n’ dunk sequence late in overtime that helped the home team prevail at the end.

Can’t trick the stats: Borac Mozzart made 14 steals this evening which is the 2^nd best score this season. Those steals helped the home team score some easy buckets, which were highly precious in the key moments of the game.