By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
In the first Belgrade derby of the 2022-23 ABA League season, Crvena Zvezda beat Partizan 90-74 in front of its chaotic fans.
Luca Vildoza had 19 points and 5 assists in his team’s victory, while Nemanja Nedovic added 17 points, 5 assists, and 6 fouls drawn.
On the losing side, Ioannis Papapetrou had a convincing game with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Dante Exum had 14 points and 9 fouls drawn in his first Belgrade derby.
In the late seconds of the first quarter, the Belgrade derby got interrupted for more than 30 minutes after that the red-and-white fans started throwing objects on the court.
It appeared that everything started after an offensive foul was called on Nikola Ivanovic, who met Zach LeDay before heading to the basket. He also appeared to have injured his knee on that occasion. At that moment, chaos erupted.
With 00:38 seconds left in the first quarter, the first referee Damir Javor and his colleagues left the court while objects were still falling from the stands despite Branko Lazic trying to calm down his fans.
— Bojan Brezovac (@Breza89) November 28, 2022
After that the fiercest Crvena Zvezda fans evacuated one portion of the stands in the Aleksandar Nikolić Hall and following the announcement of the complete emptying of the arena if other objects would have fallen again, the game restarted.
Dusko Ivanovic’s team got the fourth win in a row since the former Baskonia head coach took over, while this is the first ABA League defeat of the year for the black opponents. After 7 victories, Zeljko Obradovic‘s team isn’t unbeaten anymore.
ABA League – Round 8
Borac – Mornar Bar 90-87
Buducnost – Cibona 97-76
Cedevita Olimpija – Zadar 97-79
FMP – Igokea 89-77
KK MZT – Mega 94-82
Split – SC Derby 82-85
Crvena Zvezda – Partizan 90-74
Standings: Partizan 7-1, FMP 7-1, Crvena Zvezda 6-1, Buducnost 5-3…
PHOTO CREDIT: ABA League