A 15-0 run early in the second period saw the hosts take control
Buducnost shuts down Trefl to grab second win, 92-83
Game Report
3 Mins read
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica managed to clinch its first home win of the BKT EuroCup season after downing Trefl Sopot 86-74 at Moraca on Wednesday night. A terrific second quarter, in which the home team left Trefl scoreless for more than seven minutes, set the foundations for the victory. The hosts got their second in a row to improve to 2-2, while the visitors remain winless after four rounds.
Kenan Kamenjas paced the winners with 18 points. Fletcher Magee followed with 17, Rasheed Sulaimon had 14, and Nikola Tanaskovic and McKinley Wright chipped in 10 apiece. Jaroslaw Zyskowski led all scorers with career-high 33 points, Tarik Phillip had 16, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, and Geoffrey Grosselle contributed 10 and 5 boards in the losing effort.
Both teams started red-hot on offense, scoring on every possession, with Sulaimon and Phillip leading the way for each team. Despite struggling to control the rebounding battle early in the game, the hosts managed to build a 15-10 edge right before the first timeout, having taken advantage of Trefl’s turnovers and the free-throw line. With Phillip as the only one able to score for the visitors, Buducnost found inside points by Kamenjas, good for a 19-12 advantage that increased to 29-20 at the end of the first period behind back-to-back triples by Juwan Morgan and Sulaimon.
The break seemed to be a good thing for Trefl, which reduced the distance to 29-25 in the first 50 seconds after the game resumed. Buducnost head coach Andrej Zakelj immediately stopped the game with a timeout to avoid a rally, and the result was something only a few could have expected. The hosts completely shut down Trefl, preventing their opponent from getting a field goal for the next eight minutes. Five points in a row by McGee sparked a 15-0 run that allowed Buducnost to escape, 44-25. When Jaroslaw Zyskowski managed to end the drought and give Trefl some momentum, the home team was already far away and comfortably dominating, 48-30, at halftime.
Trefl tried to start strong to get back into the game early in the second half, but despite Aaron Best finally hitting from beyond the arc to help his team come within 51-35, a couple of unsportsmanlike fouls – one for each team – slowed down the game and Buducnost took advantage of it to escape again, 55-37. Then Grosselle and Zyskowski took over for Sopot to make it 55-43. The joy didn’t last long for the visitors, as McKinley Wright and Howard showed up from outside to help Buducnost recover its momentum, 63-47. Five points in a row by Marcus Weathers broke the trend, though, and Trefl managed to reach the last stanza with some hope, 63-52.
Zyskowsky kept rocking for Trefl after the game resumed, which made it a single-digit disadvantage for the visitors for the first time since the second period, 65-56. With eight minutes still to play, Buducnost stopped the game again, but Zyskowski’s third triple made it even tighter, 67-59, right after that. Buducnost didn’t panic, though, as a timely three-pointer by McGee cut the bleeding and calmed down the home crowd. Recovering a double-digit lead seemed to reactivate Buducnost on offense, as another scoring spurt by Magee made it 79-65 with four minutes to play. Trefl didn’t give up and kept looking for a red-hot Zyskowski, who ended up scoring 19 points in the last period, but the hosts never allowed their opponent to come dangerously close. The game entered crunch time with a 84-72 score, and even though an unsportsmanlike foul called on Yogi Ferrell and the fifth three of Zyskowski made it 86-81 in the last minute, an offensive rebound and a basket by Kamenjas finished the game off.
