Desires were greater than possibilities, the Montenegrin champion was stopped at the first step of the Euroleague qualification, just like last year.
A little more than a year ago, Asvel was too much trouble for Buducnost Voli, and on Thursday evening Lietuvos ritas celebrated.
Podgorica played well for three quarters, but in the last one the greater experience of the home team, who also had help from the referee, decided the game.
Three technical and intentional fouls were played against the guests, the team from Vilnius made 14 consecutive free throws, which allowed them to reach a 20-point advantage and routinely bring the match to an end.
"I believe that the final result is not a true indicator of what happened on the field. We played well for most of the game, we were an equal rival to Lietuvos ritas, which is an extremely high-quality team. In the last quarter, there were some somewhat strange decisions by the referees to our detriment, so hence the convincing triumph of the home team. However, we showed that we have a quality team that can do a lot in the upcoming season," explains Nikola Vučević, center of Podgorica.
Except for Čedomir Vitkovac, no player of the "Blues" has so far felt the magic of playing in the best European club competition.
"We are a young team, and practically no player from our team has ever played in the Euroleague. On the other hand, Lietuvos ritas has quality individuals with a lot of experience playing such strong matches, they achieved significant results in this competition. In some periods of the match, there were it's obvious that we don't have experience, if it was a different case, we probably would have handled some situations better. We had the desire, but it wasn't enough to win."
The play from the greater part of the match, i.e. from the first half, can encourage everyone in the composition of Budućnost Volija before the start of the regional league.
"Regardless of the defeat against the Lithuanians, I think the game showed that we can do a lot. Lietuvos ritas invested a lot in the team, playing in the Euroleague is their primary goal and they subordinated everything to that. Despite that, we showed that we can equally to deal with such a team and this is a good sign before the start of the regional league and the Eurocup. Also, it gave us an incentive to work even better and harder in training," concluded Vučević.
There is room for improvement
There are still six days left until the premier match in the regional ABA league this season. The "Blues" are visiting Cedeviti on Friday, and until then they will try to improve some segments in the game.
"I think we can improve our game in defense, to be more aggressive, and more patient in attack. The Lithuanians also had a lot of offensive jumps, so we can improve in that segment as well. If we bring those things to an even higher level, surely good results can be expected. We will go into every match motivated to the maximum with the desire to celebrate, regardless of the name of the rival", Vucevic is clear.
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