The veteran guard was instrumental in the Slovenian side grabbing its fourth win of the season
Jaka Blazic turned back the clock to inspire Cedevita past Aris
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Regular Season
Round 5 of 18
Group B
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There are not many players who can boast Jaka Blazic’s on-court experience in the BKT EuroCup. On Wednesday night, the Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana captain proved on the road at Aris Midea Thessaloniki that time hasn’t dimmed his star.
The 34-year-old guard put together a player-of-the-game display on Greek soil and led his team to a 75-82 road victory that allowed Cedevita to improve to a 4-1 record. In fact, Cedevita’s 4-1 start is made all the more impressive given that the club had gone 4-32 over the last two EuroCup seasons.
Boosted by the crowd at Palais De Sports, Aris took a 48-37 lead into the second half. Meanwhile, Cedevita struggled to get stops on defense and didn’t manage to find its flow on the other end. The player who carried the Slovenian side on his shoulders was none other than Blazic, who produced a mature performance. The Cedevita guard recorded 10 first-half points, going a perfect 3 for 3 from inside the arc and 4 for 4 from the charity stripe.
The guests turned the tide after the break, putting an emphasis on their defense and holding Aris to 13 and 14 points, respectively, in the last two quarters to pull off a hard-fought comeback. Blazic spearheaded Cedevita’s effort on both ends, playing a key role in its fourth-quarter run. In the last seven minutes of the game, the experienced guard recorded 7 points, 2 assists and 2 important steals to help Cedevita gain back the momentum, outscore Aris 14-28 and seal the victory.
“We showed character in the second half, especially on defense and through that we got easy points on offense and confidence,” Blazic said after the game. “At the end we also showed character when the game was close. On defense we were aggressive, we changed some things and it worked. We will build on this and hope to get more wins in the EuroCup.”
Blazic nailed 4 free throws that saw him move into sixth place all-time in EuroCup charts with 284 free throws made. He ended the duel with a game-high 19 points, as well as 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 4 fouls drawn for a season-high PIR of 29.
Had he added another 3 points to his tally, he would be now tied with E.J. Rowland in sixth place overall in the scoring charts. Yet, Blazic will surely enjoy reaching that milestone on home soil next week, when Cedevita is set to host Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem at Arena Stozice.