BARAĆ: “DUE TO PERSONNEL ISSUES, WE LOST ENERGY, COULDN’T MAKE ANY SHOTS IN THE THIRD QUARTER”

Mega MIS basketball team lost away to Split 88:73 (24:20, 21:27, 17:10, 26:16) in the 12th round of the ABA League. Marko Barać’s team held their own against the home team in the first 20 minutes, even finishing the first half with a point surplus. However, Split started to pull away in the third quarter. Mega attempted to respond in the decisive period, but the Croatian team gained a double-digit lead, decisively turning the match in their favor in the middle of the quarter. After 12 played matches, Mega MIS now has a record of 5-7, while Split improved their balance to 4-8.

Coach Marko Barać shared his impressions after the match:

“Congratulations to the home team on a well-deserved victory. They were better tonight, especially in the second half. We played quite well offensively in the first half, scoring a large number of points with a good shooting percentage for two. I tried to keep the players’ minutes relatively low to maintain freshness for the later stages. The second quarter ended with some defensive mistakes on our part. We allowed Split to score some points too easily. However, in the second half, it showed what I had seen in the previous week during training. We came without four players, and three were still questionable. We didn’t have proper training and preparation for a serious team like Split, and it wasn’t enough tonight. We can analyze the second half, the way we played, but we couldn’t make any shots during the third quarter, an unbelievable number of attempts near the basket. Due to personnel problems, we lost energy and were a centimeter shorter when it came to shooting, a step slower in defense and rebounding. I’m not taking anything away from Split; they deserved to win. I hope we’ll return to optimal condition soon. This is a young team that thrives on training, and we want to get back into that rhythm as soon as possible,” said Barać.

In the next round, Mega MIS will host Igokea and the match is scheduled for Monday, December 25, at 18:00 in the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall.

Photo: Split/Ivica Cavka