It was a great opportunity for SC Derby basketball players to secure their second win in the ABA League play-offs and take a step towards survival, but for the umpteenth time this season, the Podgorica team did not know how to preserve the lead it had been building for more than three quarters.
"Students" were defeated in Zadar (69:62), judged by Montenegrin basketball player Vladimir Mihailović, after Petar Mijović's team played a disastrous final quarter.
He scored a total of four points and only one field goal in the game. And that was with just under two minutes left in the game...
Derby got off to a great start and took a 13:3 lead, then took control and reached a plus 12 lead in the 3rd quarter (58:46), while the home team kept making mistakes.
But, from the end of the third period, things on the court started to change, and Zadar took the lead for the second time with six minutes left - with Mihailović's sixth three-pointer (60:59).
Emir Hadžibegović then hit one of two free throws to tie the game (perhaps Mihailović could have been called for an unsportsmanlike foul in that situation), but there was no turning back for SC Serbia.
All he did was cut it to 65:62 through Aleksa Ilić. And those were the only points from our representative's game in the last 10 minutes...
Mihailović finished the match with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists (five of his six three-pointers came in the first half), while for SC Derby - whose team did not include Matic Rebec - Darius Johnson scored 14 and Mateo Drežnjak 13.
SC Derbi is thus once again sharing last place in the standings with Split, with five wins each.
Next Monday, the "students" will play Spartak.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
