BARAĆ: “TO WIN IN PODGORICA, YOU HAVE TO HIT YOUR OPEN SHOTS – I CAN’T BE DISAPPOINTED, WE WERE NECK-AND-NECK FOR 36 MINUTES”

Mega MIS basketball players were unable to surprise Budućnost VOLI in Podgorica in the 7th round of the ABA League, as they were defeated 69-77 (14-15, 19-25, 24-16, 12-21) despite a hard-fought battle in the Morača Arena. Marko Barać’s team stayed close to the favored home side throughout, even managing to take the lead in the third quarter, but the more experienced team from Montenegro’s capital pulled away in the decisive fourth quarter to secure the win. Mega MIS now holds a 4-3 record after seven rounds, while Budućnost stands at 6-1.

Mega MIS head coach Marko Barać shared his thoughts at the postgame press conference:

“First of all, I want to congratulate the home team on the win. After a subpar game from us in the previous round, we came here with a strong desire to show what we’ve been demonstrating since the start of the season, which I believe is good basketball. I think we managed that tonight; we were neck-and-neck with an excellent team on their court for 36 minutes, looked quite solid despite a very poor three-point shooting percentage. We had a lot of open shots in the first half that didn’t go in. We kept believing and managed to bring the shooting percentage to a more normal level in the second half, but to win on the road like this, you have to make your open shots. On the other hand, the turning point was probably in the third quarter, midway through, when we lost the rebounding battle, which had been going well for us until then. Budućnost simply used their physicality and size to grab some very important offensive rebounds and punish us with easy points. I can’t be disappointed; we played a very solid game for us. We’ll keep working, and hopefully, in the future, this will be enough to achieve more than we did tonight,” Barać said.

In the next, eighth round of the ABA League, Mega MIS will host Crvena Zvezda at the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall on Sunday, November 10, at 1:00 PM.

Photo: Budućnost VOLI/Filip Roganović