The last addition to the Voli's future ahead of the start of the season was center Zoran Nikolić, who returned to the "blues" locker room after three years. Nikolić was recovering from an injury sustained in the match between Montenegro and Lithuania at the European Championship, and then he didn't get many chances, and when it became clear that James Thompson (the only one who didn't enter the game tonight) was of little use, Andrej Žakelj turned to the Nikšić native, who gave him back in the best possible way tonight.
It was thanks to Nikolić that the Buducnost Voli basketball team defeated Cluj (86:73) in the first match of the AdmiralBet ABA League quarterfinals tonight in Podgorica and took a 1:0 lead in the series. The second match is on Friday (19) in Romania, and the eventual winner is on May 14 at the "Mtel Morača Hall".
The start of the game was dominated by Cluj - the Romanian team led 7:2 and 9:4, and the match was opened brilliantly by Iverson Molinar, who scored his team's first seven points.
From the seventh minute, Buducnost played excellently in defense, and everything coincided with the entry of Zoran Nikolić. "Blues" made a partial 16:4 at the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter, and 10 of those 16 points were scored by Nikolić, so after 13 minutes of play there was a 12-point lead - 32:20. Also, in those moments, but also throughout the match, the Nikšić native did a good job in duels with Dušan Miletić, who quickly committed three fouls.
Buducnost had their last double-digit lead in the first half midway through the second quarter when Džuvan Morgan hit a three-pointer, and the scoreboard read 35:25. Then the "blues" offense stopped, Buducnost had some hasty shots, and Cluj made a 13:0 run in three minutes and led 38:35.
After the first half, the Romanian team had a one-point lead (40:39), and then the third quarter saw a seesaw of scores, during which neither team had more than a four-point advantage. But, at the end of the third quarter, Nikolić re-entered the game (he had been absent since the score was 28:17 in the second quarter), and scored on a foul by Ričarada, and after his points, the "blues" entered the last 10 minutes with a three-point lead - 63:60.
In the last quarter, another guy who hasn't played well this season was in the foreground - Fletcher Magee. The American scored eight of the Blues' 11 points at the start of the final quarter, and Buducnost quickly pulled away, reaching plus 12 again (74:62), and by the end had an 18-point advantage (86:68).
Nikolić finished the match with 18 points, six rebounds and an index of 22, while his plus/minus was +27.
Axel Butey had 16 points, Morgan 14, and Rashid Sulamon 10. On the other side, Krick had 15 points.
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