Cedevita grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and forced 23 turnovers
Cedevita sweeps season series with Cluj thanks to offensive rebounds, forced turnovers
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 15 of 18
Regular Season
group a
Cedevita Olimpija LjubljanaCOL
8680
U-BT Cluj-NapocaUBT
group a
Overview
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Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana applied more pressure in the fight for a top-two spot in Group A with a thrilling rollercoaster home victory over U-BT Cluj-Napoca.
Cedevita wasted a 16-point lead and then needed to battle back from 10 points down to beat Cluj 86-80. Zvezdan Mitrovic's men swept the season series against Cluj and have put together three wins in the last four games for a 10-5 record.
“We made a lot of mistakes in the first half but we came out and fixed those mistakes on defense and we fought until the end and came out with the victory,” said DJ Stewart, who led Cedevita with 25 points and had 6 rebounds.
Aleksej Nikolic added 24 points off the bench in the win.
While Cluj outshot Cedevita on two and three-pointers, the hosts forced 23 Cluj turnovers and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds. Cedevita turned those miscues into a 32-16 advantage in points off turnovers and a 14-6 advantage in second-chance points.
“We had a lot of energy. We ran, we played with energy. It’s not easy to play defense against a team that scores 96 points per game. We had good support and I am very happy. It was a very important game for our playoff hopes,” said Coach Mitrovic.
Stewart and Jaka Blazic sparked the offense to start the game with 15 combined points of the team’s first 17 points. An 11-0 run over 4 minutes gave Cedevita a 22-9 lead and the score was 24-12 after 10 minutes.
The advantage grew to 16 points at 28-12, but Cluj pulled the deficit to three points at 33-30 before trailing 37-34 at the break.
Cluj scored the first five points of the second half to take the lead for the first time, and a 0-10 run made it 41-51. The hosts charged back with a 14-3 surge to move back ahead 55-54 and were up 60-59 after 30 minutes.
Cedevita pushed the cushion back to seven points and Umoja Gibson’s triple with 2 minutes to go made it 78-81. Nikolic converted 5 of 6 free throws in the final 105 seconds to secure the win.
Cluj has lost its last three road games to fall to 8-7 in the group despite Dusan Miletic collecting 16 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists, Karel Guzman scoring 16 points and Fatts Russell chipping in 14 points and 10 assists.
“They were the more physical team and that was the difference. With their physicality they forced us to make 23 turnovers - which is huge - and they forced us to give up 18 offensive rebounds. It’s very hard to win this type of game with those numbers. Defensively we did a pretty good job. But we allowed too many second chance opportunities,” said Cluj head coach Mihai Silvasan.
“But that is basketball. This is who we are as a team. We just need to stay together and move forward and try to find solutions.”
