Sutjeska wants to get revenge on Sloboda: "We worked and prepared for this"

Sutjeska basketball players are the only representatives of Montenegro in the ABA2 League playoffs, and tonight (20) they will welcome Sloboda from Tuzla in Nikšić, in the first match of the quarterfinals.

The same rivals met two weeks ago in Nikšić, when Sloboda won 82:78 in the final round of the regular season and prevented Marko Simonović's team from entering the playoffs from first place. The team from Nikšić finished the regular season in third place (6-2), while the team from Tuzla finished in sixth place (5-3).

The quarterfinals are played to win by two. The second game is on March 25 (20) in Tuzla, and the eventual winner is on April 1 (20) in Nikšić. The winner of this series will play in the semifinals with the better team from the series in which Zlatibor and TFT meet. Zlatibor celebrated on home turf last night (101:86) and took a 1:0 lead in the series.

"We lost that previous game to Sloboda. I don't think we were unlucky then, on the other hand they hit a lot of difficult three-point shots. We may have been disturbed by some pressure, because it was a match for first place. But all that is behind us. This is something completely new, playoff basketball is completely different. I'm pretty sure we'll be ready. I'm sure it will be a good series and good basketball with, I believe, a positive outcome. We're entering this game with maximum ambition, with a lot of motivation and energy. We've been working and preparing for this. We're facing a good and experienced team, which on paper is probably more experienced than us," said Sutjeska coach Marko Simonović in the match announcement.

The Nikšić coach is also hoping for support from the fans.

"The atmosphere against Sloboda in the previous match was great. I hope we can do it again. I think these guys and this club deserve it. We have already done a lot this season. With three rounds left, we achieved our goals in the Montenegrin league, even surpassed them, and in the ABA2 league, we also surpassed our goals. These guys really deserve support," said Simonović.

Sutjeska captain Filip Barović expects that he and his teammates will have support from the stands.

"There was great support at the previous game. I hope it will be the same now. Let us respond and celebrate together after the game," said Barović.

The captain of Sutjeska points out that the team is aware of where it went wrong in the previous match against Sloboda.

"We have a good match ahead of us - to correct the mistakes from the previous match, justify the role of favorites on home soil and, I hope, record a victory. After the previous defeat, we made a serious analysis, some mistakes should not be repeated. I think we will be ready to meet the tasks," said Barović.

Meanwhile, American point guard Kwame Vaughan arrived in Sutjeska as a replacement for Andrej Vulević, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and underwent successful surgery on Saturday.

"We weren't planning on bringing in any players. However, Andrej Vulević's injury disrupted us. Andrej was injured the night before the previous match against Sloboda and that disrupted us during the match itself. We had to react quickly, and that's difficult in mid-March. We managed to find a quality player, with a lot of experience. I think he will help us, he will be good for the team," Simonović concluded.