Qualifying Round D, Game 2 report: Red Star 96-81 Allianz Swans
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 Red Star Belgrade advanced to the Eurocup regular season by beating Allianz Swans Gmunden 96-81 in a winner-takes-all battle on Tuesday in the Serbian capital. The two sides played to an 82-82 draw in Austria last week, meaning winner of this single game would advance. And Tadija Dragicevic made sure it would be his team after a 21-point, 11 rebound performance. Red Star now joins Belgian champ Spirou Charleroi, Germany’s Brose Baskets and Turow Zgorzelec of Poland in Group D of the Eurocup regular season. The Swans played neck and neck with Red Star into the second period, but soon Marko Keselj and Dragicevic caught fire to give the hosts a 51-42 halftime lead. Red Star then broke the game open in the period and despite a 0-9 Swans charge to start the fourth that cut the deficit to single digits, the result for Red Star was never in serious jeopardy. Andre Owens added 14 points for Red Star, Marko Marinovic scored 13 and Boris Bakic 10. Elijah Palmer posted 25 points and 12 rebounds and Deteri Mayes also scored 25 to pace the Swans. Peter Hutter added 14 and Anthony Fished dished 8 assists in defeat.
The game started the way last week’s game ended: The two teams were trading baskets and playing weak defense. Accordingly, the score was tied at 15-15 after five minutes. Mayes put the Swans up 4 before Marinovic answered with triple. Nemanja Bjelica joined with a bomb to tie the score at 24-24 after 10 minutes. Keselj drilled back-to-back triples as hosts climbed ahead 38-32 midway through the second period. Then a Dragicevic tip-in and a three pointer gave Red Star a double-digit lead, 49-39. The Swans could only manage to close the gap to 51-42 by halftime.
Red Star opened third period with 10-2 run to take control. The hosts started playing more patiently on defense and the result was 64-48 lead. At the end of period Red Star led 74-57, but Allianz opened the final quarter with 0-9 run. Owens answered with a layup and a fast-break dunk to help Red Star reestablish its double-digit lead. Dragicevic was in a mood and thanks to his points Red Star entered into a quiet finish with a safe lead. The guests from Austria lost their ambition to change the final score and Red Star kept the wining margin for a spot in the Eurocup.
QUOTES
Redc Star head coach, Svetislav Pesic
"We managed to score 100 points, but we gave up too much. The most important thing is that we qualified for the Eurocup competition. It is important to players who have a lot of ups and downs. They are young and they are celebrating when they score and they are crying when they miss. They still cannot control their emotions. Statistically we played great tonight against Allianz, which is good and well-coached team."
Red Star center Vladimir Stimac
"We did what coach wanted from us. We were lucky in shooting with high percentages, but we had too many problems on defense with Allianz's transition."
Allianz Swans head coach Bob Gonnen
"We lost and the better team goes on. Red Star is well-balanced team with good players at each position. They shot 48% for three points tonight and that was the key. We played well and hard, but we made too many mistakes."
Allianz Swans guard Enis Murati
"In the first half we played pretty well and we controlled the game. And we had the hope we were able to make a miracle. But in the second half, we faced a much stronger Red Star team. They are better at the moment. Congratulations to them and best of luck."
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Aca Ostojic, Belgrade
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