The first triumph after three successive defeats, the ninth victory in the Eurocup this season and the round of 90 in "Morača" in sight - these are the three positive things from the duel between Buducnost Voli and Promiteas, which Aleksandar Džikić's team won 77:XNUMX.
The game, however, is still far from what Serbian experts and fans expect, and the problem was that the more modest rival was allowed to come back into the match from practically nothing in the 3rd quarter and equalize at 50:50.
Džikić then called a time-out, and his team soon returned the then-record plus 12 (67:55), on which it stopped several times.
Promiteas was equal in the opening minutes, but it was as if they were just waiting for the "blues" to get serious and show the difference in class.
With the 11:0 series, they took a 24:14 lead and announced that they would easily complete the task, at the start of the 2nd section, there were twice plus 11 (30:19 and 32:21), and after the Justin Cobbs series, the difference was 12 (46:34 ).
The visitors came to the big break at 46:39, and after returning from the locker room, they took advantage of their rivals' indolence to equalize.
The key detail happened in the middle of the 3rd quarter - after getting two ramps in the same attack, Willie Reid hit a three-pointer out of desperation at the sound of the siren at 59:53.
It was only his 12th career three-point shot and third goal.
Buducnost quickly regained the double-digit advantage, and in the last quarter they escaped to plus 19 (85:66).
Petar Popović was the most effective with 15 points, and Vladimir Micov (12), Reed, Denis Džrom Sili (11 each), Kobs and Zoran Nikolić (10 each) had double-digit performance.
Ovation was caused by Danilo Nikolić's basket in the last minute, the first in his "new" career after the drama he endured in September.
The match in "Morača" also had a sad episode - the "barbarians" were silent until the 2nd quarter, when in unison they started singing the name of Miljan Šćepanović, their tragically injured member, in whose honor they unfurled a large banner.
Everyone in the hall joined them in applauding and chanting Šćepanović's name.
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