Cibona Claim Second ABA League Win in Široki Brijeg

Cibona beat Široki 102:93 at the Pecara Hall on Monday, 9 November, in Round 7 of the AdmiralBet ABA League, picking up their second win in the competition. It is also head coach Ivan Tomas’s first win in the regional competition with Cibona.

The Wolves opened strongly and took the first quarter 29:23. In the second, Široki found its rhythm and came back to level at 41:41, then took the lead twice (43:44, 52:53), but Cibona went into the break ahead 57:53. By then, Mazalin with 13 points and Mitchell with 11 had stood out for Cibona, and Ola-Joseph with 17 for Široki.

In the third quarter, the hosts closed to within 69:64, but Cibona pulled away again to a double-digit lead and went into the final ten minutes up 83:71.

It looked as though Cibona had settled the outcome in the fourth quarter, but with a minute and a half to go Široki hit a three and then a free throw to make it 96:91. The Wolves held on and won by nine. Battle led all scorers with 26 points for Cibona, while Ola-Joseph had 23 for Široki.

Cibona head coach Ivan Tomas said after the game:

“First of all, I’d like to thank the people at KK Široki for the warm welcome. I haven’t been here in almost 20 years. I’d also like to thank the crowd for the fantastic atmosphere. As for the game, congratulations to my players. I think we played quite well. We opened very well, and for the first five minutes we were locked in on defense, but over the next 15 minutes our defense wasn’t working the way it should. We played well on offense, so we managed to hold on to our lead in the first half. In the second half we got a bit tougher, but the points weren’t coming like in the first. My only regret is that at times we didn’t put the game away in time, and instead went into the last minute and a half under pressure.”

Široki head coach Marijan Bagarić said:

“Congratulations to Cibona on the win, and I wish them every success in the competition. I’m glad Pecara was full and that the atmosphere was truly wonderful. It would have been wonderful if we had managed to win, but it just didn’t work out, even though we should have played with more flow and better ball movement.”

The Wolves are back at Dražen’s Home on Friday, 13 November, at 6:30 PM, when they host FMP in the AdmiralBet ABA League.