Big drama, much more difficult than two months ago under the Alps - to some extent expected after a great fight and a great victory against Partizan - but through another 45 minutes in the Eurocup, the Buducnost Volija basketball players did the most important task in order to stay in the playoff game.
The Montenegrin champion was once again better than Trent in the 12th round of the second highest quality European competition - 110:108, after drama and overtime, for the fifth triumph in group A .
The last match in Europe in 2024, Andrej Žakelj's team had to solve it in an extra five minutes after they naively, along with rookie mistakes, allowed their rival to get away in the finish.
19 seconds before the end, Fuducnost had plus six (95:89), but Rashid Sulaimon, who had played a good match until then, revived the Italian team first with a mistake, and then, after Jordan Ford's three-pointer, he missed both free throws three seconds later.
To make things even more disastrous, he didn't even have time to make a foul, so Ford took the match to overtime with another three-pointer from ten meters (95:95).
What they did not finish in the regular part of the match, the "blue and white" "corrected" in the extra five minutes, although they also made incomprehensible mistakes, first of all by Jogi Ferrell... Kenan Kamenjaš (achieved a double-double) continued his dominance from the entire match, Sulaimon "redeemed" himself with a dunk, and Juvan Morgan caught the last ball in defense with six seconds left and the score 108:105...
Even and very intense basketball was brought by the first half, where Buducnost tried to "unstick", but Trento always had a ready answer - mainly thanks to the weak defense of the "blue and whites", which the Italian team used mostly with a three-point shot.
It was actually a duel of lowered guards and a shootout during the first 20 minutes... Leading the way were Sulaimon, who on the wings of the match from Belgrade scored three times from three attempts outside the 6,75 line, and Eigirdas Žukauskas on the other side, who scored the same the number of triplets.
Buducnost also had some nice actions, such as Đorđi Jovanović's nailing after a great assist by McKinley Wright, but the defense was not the first.
Before the break, the scoreboard in "Morača" showed 49:47 for the visitors from the north of Italy, and Andrej Žakelj said that his team will have to change their defensive attitude.
His boys did much better in the continuation of the match - after the fourth three-pointer by Sulaimon, the first by Jogi Ferrell and a point by Fletcher Magee, Budućnost had "plus 10" for the first time four minutes before the end of the third quarter (67:57).
He threatened Trento until the end, it seemed that the "blue and white", as against Partizan, would manage to repel the attacks of rivals - Maggi and Sulaimon hit threes, Kamenjaš dominated the racket, hitting and collecting rebounds when needed (18 points , 11 rebounds), and McKinley Wright was again the real leader.
And when it seemed that the fifth victory was recorded, the already described unreal things happened in the last 19 seconds...
In the end, the drama will be remembered, certainly unnecessary, but also the victory that leaves the door to the playoffs open - the next challenge in the Eurocup awaits Andrej Žakelj's boys on the second day of 2025, when they will visit Trefl Sopot.
At the match against Trento, Budućnosti fans had a message for their comrades Marko Lazarevic and Miljan Bobičić, who tragically died five years ago when they went to one of the matches of the Podgorica club's football players.
THE FUTURE LOVES - TRENTO 110:108 (24:25, 23:24, 30:22, 18:24, 11:10)
Podgorica - "Morača" Hall. Spectators: 1.300. Judges: Manuel (Spain), Per (Israel), Tsici (Albania).
Future Likes: Morgan 15 (9-8), SULAJMON 19 (2-0), Ilić, Megi 13 (4-3), SLAVKOVIĆ, TANASKOVIĆ 8 (2-1), FEREL 11 (4-4), Jovanović 5, Drežnjak 5, Omić 4 (3-0), Wright 12 (1-1), KAMENJASš 18 (8-6).
Trento: ELIS 7 (4-3), KEJL 19, Ford 20 (2-2), PEKIJA 10, Nijang 8 (4-2), Foraj 9, Mavugbe, LEMB 16 (5-4), BAJE 2 (2- 2), Žukauskas 17 (3-1).
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