MEGA LOST TO ZADAR IN THE LAST SECOND

Defeat of Mega in a dramatic finish!

Mega Mozzart  lost to Zadar in the 12th round of the ABA League with 70:72 (16:24, 16:22, 26:11, 12:15). The players of coach Vladimir Jovanovic during the greater part of the match were the result deficit that they managed to reach in the third quarter. In the last quarter, Mega also had the lead, but in the dramatic finish, they ran out of strength and a little luck, so Zadar reached win with Carter’s points in the last second.

The most efficient in the ranks of Mega were Simanic with 12, as well as Smith, Ruzhentsev and Jovic with 11 points each, while in Zadar, Justin Carter stood out with 25 points, who was also the hero of the triumph.

After 12 rounds of regional competition, Mega Mozzart has a score of 5-7, while Zadar registered its third victory. Mega will play on road against Partizan in the next round on December 27.

Vladimir Jovanović started the match with the following five: Smith, Djurisic, Jovic, Simanic and Matkovic, and the home team had a lot of problems in the first section. An unsolvable enigma for Mega’s defense was the center of Zadar, Trevor Thompson, who played like in a trance at the start of the match. Thompson scored the first 12 points for the guests and brought some security in the game to the team of coach Vladimir Anzulovic. Mega played a bit confusing in the attack with lower percentages of shots from outside, while Zadar, after Thompson leaved to bench, moved the focus of the attack outside the 6.75 line. That paid off for the Dalmatians, so Jordano, Vukovic, Marcinkovic, Dreznjak and Mavra hit threes in high percentages, which gave them a maximum 15-point advantage in the middle of the second half (19:34).

A large number of missed shots by Mega, as well as uncertainty when performing free throws, made the job of Vladimir Jovanovic’s team more difficult, who tried to reduce the lead of Zadar with much more aggressive defense and pressure on the ball across the entire field. The efficiency of the guests was reduced by such an approach, but the empty minutes of Zadar were not used well by Mega, so the advantage was reduced to only 10 points (28:38), and before going on a big vacation Zadar gained 14 point’s lead (32:46).

During the half-time break, there was a competition in shooting from half court for LCD TV, a gift from the company Tehnomanija, but unfortunately, randomly selected competitors from the audience were not precise.

In the second half, Mega played much better. Thompson made the fourth personal foul in the early phase of the third period, so he had to move to the bench, Nikola Janković brought in the necessary energy, primarily in defense, and Dayshon Smith took responsibility in the attack, so Mega reached the tie in 27th minute (51:51). After a long time, Mega took the lead again with points from Borisa Simanic (56:55), and entered the last quarter with a minimal advantage.

The big fight flared up in the fourth quarter. They played basket for basket for a long time, and then Zadar took the lead again with a series of 0:6 (63:65). However, as soon as he brought the advantage to his team, Thompson had to be out of the game due to five personal fouls, and Jovićcreturned the advantage to Mega with a triple. The resulting seesaw contributed to the dramatic finish. However, catching up with Zadar’s great advantage, Mega lost significantly on freshness in the finish, which Zadar took advantage of and gained a four-point advantage with Jordan’s triple (66:70). Smith scored the equalizer 16 seconds before the end, and Mega decided to defend the last attack after the Zadar time-out. Carter took responsibility and solved the question of the winner with points only 0.9 seconds before the end. Ruzhentsev tried from the entire field in the remaining time, but his shot ended up on the hoop.

Mega Mozzart: Balcerowski 6 (7 rebounds), Vujic, Ruzhentsev 11, Jovic 11, Rudan, Kocovic, Smith 11 (6 assists), Jankovic 4, Cerovina 4, Matkovic 7, Djurisic 4, Simanic 12.

Zadar: Carter 25, Marcinkovic 8, Paponja, Jordano 6, Brala, Vukovic 5, Bursac, Junakovic, Buljan, Dreznjak 6, Mavra 5, Thompson 17.

Photo: Mega Mozzart/Ivica Veselinov