MEGA BEAT VOJVODINA IN NOVI SAD FOR THE SEMIFINALS, JOVANOVIC: “WE HAVE THE HIGHEST GOALS”

Mega better than Vojvodina in Novi Sad for the advancement to the semifinals of the playoffs!

In the second game of the quarterfinals of the playoffs of the Serbian Super League, Mega Soccerbet defeated Vojvodina in Novi Sad with 87:95 (18:26, 17:27, 27:24, 25:18). Coach Vladimir Jovanović’s team had a key run of 2:15 in the middle of the second quarter in the game that was played without the presence of the audience in the small hall of the Spens Sports Center, when they reached a convincing advantage after which Mega’s triumph was no longer in question.

The most efficient in the ranks of Mega were Filip Petrusev with 21 points and Malcolm Cazalon with 19. Dusan Beslac stood out in the Vojvodina with 20 points.

Mega will meet the better team from Partizan NIS – Mladost series in the semifinals. The semifinals will be played in the best of three according to the following schedule:

1st playoff semifinal match: June 1 at 20:30, Mega Factory Hall
2nd game: June 3 at 19:00 on the field of the opponent Mega
eventual 3rd game of the semifinals of the playoffs: June 5 at 17:00, Mega Factory Hall

Mega started the match with the following five: Tepic, Cerovina, Momirov, Simonovic, Petrusev. A good start for Mega, whivh after three and a half minutes leads 2:10 with triples by Cerovina and Petrusrb. The home team manages to catch the connection and get to four points behind, 10:14. Simonovic scored under a foul, and after the triples of Milosavljevic and Cazalon, Mega reached a double-digit advantage for the first time, 14:24, and the result after the first quarter was 18:26.

Matković’s great “alley oop” dunk at the beginning of the second quarter and with the lay-up of Cazalon for two plus one reaches plus 13. Vojvodina fights back with two three-pointers by Gacesa, after which coachof Mega requested a time-out. Mega immediately fights back with a triple by Milosavljevic and points by Petrusev, who corrected his teammate’s miss. Tepic’s triple and Petrusev’s dunk in the counter bring Mega plus 15, 28:43 with five minutes until the end of the second quarter. Mega didn’t stop there either, because after Cerovina’s triple and Petrusev’s points from the free throw line, rounded off the series 2:15 for a 28:48 lead, and to the break at halftime went with 35:53.

The home team came close to a 13-point difference at the beginning of the third, but Cazalon hit a mid-ragne and Simonovic a three-pointer for 40:58. Petrusev and Cazalon maintain the advantage of Mega, which goes up to 23 points. Novak hits a three-pointer from the corner and then free throws, but in the finish Vojvodina manages to reduce the difference to 15 points, 62:77 before the last quarter.

Vojvodina came close to 11 points, after which Cerovina and Novak hit threes and repulsed the attack of the home team. Mega controlled the game until the very end of the match, when Vojvodina punished a series of turnovers of the Mega’s players and came to 87:95, but the victory of the players of Vladimir Jovanović did not came into question, which was the final result of the match.

At the press conference after the match, Mega’s point guard Jovan Novak first spoke, emphasizing that his team took the match with Vojvodina seriously:

– I would like to congratulate Vojvodina on a great season. They achieved great success by advancing to the ABA 2 league, and now they have played two good matches. We took them very seriously, we played aggressively, although we did not finish the match the way we wanted, to which the youth of the team contributed to some extent. But, let’s go further, we have a couple of days to get ready and try to play as well as possible in the semifinals.

Mega’s coach Vladimir Jovanovic stated that the team will try to regenerate and prepare for the semifinals:

– I would like to congratulate Vojvodina on a good season and these two games in which they offered worthy resistance. We really took these matches very seriously, because it is about the quarterfinals of the playoffs, but also due to the fact that Vojvodina has quality and knows how to punish any kind of relaxation, as it was shown at the end of the match. I would also like to congratulate coach Miroslav Nikolic on the work done this season. I really like Vojvodina as a team, because it is composed of domestic players, they are young, I trained some of them through national teams, but they also have experience. I would also like to congratulate my players, because they took these matches seriously. It turned out that without maximum intensity, each team has its chance. We have a couple of days of rest ahead of us, we will try to regenerate and get ready for the semifinals.

When asked by journalists what are the Mega’s goals in the Serbian Super League, Jovanovic answered:

– We have the highest goals, although the story of player affirmation is constantly running through. That is certainly one of the goals, but we have played the entire ABA league, and even now in the Super League, and we will play as competitively as possible. We want to win every game, to get as far as we can. We are not the only ones wondering, the opponents are also wondering, but whoever comes to us as a rival, I think we are ready. We’ll do our best to get the most out of these guys,

said coach of Mega.

Vojvodina: Nikolic, Beslac 20, Maric, Nedeljkov 2, Gacesa 17, Bjelica 2, Jovovic, Savic 7, Rakicevic 11, Vujic 3, Zaric 7, Ljubicic 17.

Mega Soccerbet: Petrusev 21 (12 rebounds, index 42), Tepic 5, Kljajevic, Momirov 4, Novak 11 (6 assists), Simonovic 11 (11 rebounds), Cerovina 11, Matkovic 6, Cazalon 19, Milosavljevic 6, Simanic 1, Langovic.

Photo: Mega Soccerbet