SuperSport Premier League: Zadar beats Cibona in Zagreb derby

After an evenly matched start to the game, Zadar took control of the score midway through the first quarter and had already built a double-digit lead before halftime, going into the break with a 50–37 advantage for the visitors.

Cibona tried to close the gap in the second half, but Zadar dominated the boards and calmly controlled the finish.

For Cibona, the most efficient players were Žan Mark Šiško with 17 points and Renato Serdarušić, who added 16. For the visitors from Zadar, Vladimir Mihailović stood out with 19 points and Lovro Mazalin with 17, leading their team offensively.

Zadar thus opened the season with a victory, while Cibona will look for a chance to bounce back in the next round.

Ivan Rudež, head coach of KK Cibona: “First of all, congratulations to Zadar on the win. Their opening of the game influenced how things unfolded on the court. Offensive rebounding—we failed to control that. They scored 20 points from second-chance opportunities, and that’s something we haven’t encountered yet. Definitely a lesson for us going forward. We managed to control their transition and were better in that aspect, but the other two elements—their post play and offensive rebounding—we didn’t. That’s a clear indicator of what we need to work on if we want to reach the level of a three-time Croatian champion”.

Renato Serdarušić, KK Cibona player: “First, I’d like to congratulate Zadar on the win. It was a tough and interesting game. As the coach said, they outrebounded us—they had 10 more rebounds—and that’s an area we need to improve. We’re now turning to the next game; on Wednesday we have the return match against Prievidza”.

The statistics can be found at THIS LINK.