MEGA FROM MINUS 20 TO WIN!
Mega Leks in the 4th round of ABA league won against MZT Skopje Aerodrom with 82:70 although at the beginning of the second quarter were down by 20 points. Players of Dejan Milojevic after the extremely weak first quarter (8:26) managed to reduce the opponent to 44 points in the remaining 30 minutes to record a deserved win.
Before the start of the match former captain of Mega Leksa Marko Lukovic was handed a symbolic gift
After the extremely weak first quarter, where with only 8 points andreceived 26 points, followed by a period of much better defense. Ivanovic with two triples and assists initiated things and from good defense started to dissolve the score. At the end of a quarter Samardžiski tied 11 points for Mega. First half ended with 38:42.
Right at the start of the second half Mega makes a series of 8:0 and took the lead. After steals followed dunks of Jaramaz and Luwawu and after the triplets from Nikolic and Jankovic, the advantage was 12 points in favor of Mega. The result at the end of the third quarter was 65:57.
In the last 10 minutes Mega never once brought victory into question, and the final score was 82-70.
Mega Leks: Simic, Aranitovic 4 points and 4 rebounds, Djokovic, Jaramaz 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, Veljkovic, Ivanovic 11 points and 7 assists, Samardziski 22 points and 10 rebounds, Pavlovic, Luwawu-Cabarrot 15 points, Nikolic 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks, Jankovic 11 points and 9 rebounds.
MZT Skopje Aerodrom: Sinadinovic 5, 16 Ljubicic, Mekic, Markovski, Vasiljevic, Simonovski 3, Mladenovski 2, Drenovac 15, Bunic 3, Stojanovski 5, Mijatovic 5, Lukovic 16.
Nikola Ivanovic:
“We had a problem in the first quarter and opened a very bad match. We had a lot of trouble to go back, but we below show segments of games that allow us to compete with all rivals. It remains only to extend these segments and to constantly raise our quality”.
Dejan Milojevic:
“We opened the match badly and we were weak in defense and had a lot of mistakes, missin easy shots and free throws. This led to the fall of aggressiveness in defense. I’m trying to change that I know it is not easy. This time we reacted properly, the quality of defense came to light points. We went back the confidence and shots started to go in. We shot for three points very well, even 56 percent. But all of this is derived from the very quality defense. In the first quarter we received 26, followed by quarters 16, 15 and 13. It speaks volumes about the difference and quality of defense. I hope that we will have less and less idle time and we will be able to keep your focus when we’re not playing good in attack. When we are able to do that, we will become a real team”.