SuperSport Premier League: Convincing Cibona wins against Cedevita Junior

Right from the opening minutes of the game, Cibona went on a 9–0 run and made it clear that today’s contest would be heading in only one direction. Šare briefly stopped the run, but Cibona kept building their lead, which grew to +14 by the end of the first quarter thanks to baskets by Šiško.

It sounds almost unbelievable that Cedevita Junior needed 12 minutes to score their first 10 points, but the visitors’ defense at times looked like reinforced concrete, while the basket seemed completely cursed for the home side. In the end, Niko Šare hit an impossible three-pointer from nearly half-court to reduce the deficit to a more respectable -13, because at 21:40 it looked as though the game might already be decided by halftime.

What had been postponed in the first half finally happened at the start of the third quarter, when the Cibosi extended the lead to a huge +21 through Jan Palokaj and Roberson, and they only increased the margin from there. During that stretch, the home coach opted for a younger lineup, while the visitors’ coach kept his main stars on the floor, leading to a final margin of an emphatic +33 for Cibona.

The best player for the struggling Cedevita Junior side was Niko Šare with 10 points and 7 rebounds. Cibona was led by Kamaka Hepa with 17 points.

Ivan Rudež, head coach of BC Cibona: “We approached the game responsibly from the very beginning. We defended responsibly and forced them into some difficult shots. We didn’t allow them easy initial actions to get comfortably into their offense. On our side, the ball movement was good, we played unselfishly, and this is another game behind us. Now we’re preparing for Alkar, and congratulations to everyone on the victory”.

Jan Palokaj, Cibona player: “I think we’ve continued a really good streak that started with the new year. This was probably our most mature game since I’ve been with the team, over the last couple of months. Everything really went according to the way we imagined and agreed upon before the game. Congratulations to the guys, and I hope we continue like this”.

Statistics can be found at THIS LINK.