By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
After losing in the remaining seconds of the ABA League Round 7 against Igokea, Partizan Belgrade lost the away encounter in Ljubljana, as Cedevita Olimpija got the 95-91 win thanks to its Slovenian heroes.
Returning to his home country’s powerhouse after the end of the adventure in Valencia, Klemen Prepelic pushed the Slovenian side with a double-double of 18 points and 11 assists, shooting 4/8 from three and 6/6 at the line.
His countryman Jaka Blazic was the team’s highest-scorer with 29 points and 6 rebounds, being perfect (8/8) at free throws. The 31-year-old power forward Shawn Jones went also close to a double-double with 17 points and 9 rebounds.
Partizan Belgrade – still without Kevin Punter and set to travel to Istanbul against Anadolu Efes – was dragged in the paint by Zach LeDay, who scored 17 points, and Frank Kaminsky, who had a losing effort of 20 points and 7 rebounds.
His substitute Bruno Caboclo tried to help with 10 points and 4 rebounds, while PJ Dozier ended with a pretty good showing of 14 points and 7 assists.
Aleksa Avramovic spent only 5:54 minutes on the court, being forced to exit the court with a probably broken nose when covering Jaka Klobucar. As coach Zeljko Obradovic said, he was moved to the hospital and an official update is expected soon.
🔥🔥 @JakaBlazic was breathing fire in this week’s NLB Match of the Round. #ABALiga @KKCedOL pic.twitter.com/xSIOieWQZu
— AdmiralBet ABA League (@ABA_League) November 20, 2023
Zvezda with no problems over Mornar Bar
While one side of Belgrade is struggling to get results in the ABA League, the red-and-white one gets on top of the standings with a 7-1 record following the 95-75 easy win over Mornar Bar at home.
Coming off the bench, Mike Tobey did all the right things for Crvena Zvezda, ending the encounter with 16 points (3/5 from three-point range) and 6 rebounds, while Marko Simonovic followed with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Nemanja Nedovic was close to a double-double with 11 points and 9 assists.
On the losing end, Tay Waller was his team’s highest scorer with 14 points, while Alex Gavrilovic tried to contribute by adding 13 points and 5 rebounds.
@Ymateus02 asistencijom bez gledanja pronalazi Simonovića samog na zakucavanju 👀
🏀 27:15#kkcz #WeAreTheTeam pic.twitter.com/qqOjSDafz2
— KK Crvena zvezda Meridianbet (@kkcrvenazvezda) November 20, 2023
ABA League Round 8 results:
Split – Zadar 75-82
SC Derby – Cibona 93-101
Igokea – Buducnost 88-74
Borac – FMP 96-75
Mega – Krka 72-77
Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana – Partizan Belgrade 95-91
Crvena Zvezda – Mornar Bar 95-75
Standings: Crvena zvezda 7-1, Buducnost 6-2, Igokea 6-2, Cedevita Olimpija 6-2, Partizan 5-3…
PHOTO CREDIT: ABA League/Ales Fevzer/Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana