Balanced Buducnost Beat Apoel

KK Buducnost registered their first success in the last sixteen much to delight of the fans inside ‘Moraca' as they cruised to a comprehensive 89-76 win against visiting Apoel in Podgorica.

Goran Jeretin was one of six players in double figures with 10 points

The win was particularly sweet since the home team trailed 28-18 in the second quarter when Bradon Heath drilled home a three-pointer for the visitors who were exploiting some lax perimeter defence.

However the home team came storming back with a 15-4 run, as this time a three-pointer by Nemanja Gordic handed the home team the lead.

Buducnost also enjoyed a strong finish to the opening half scoring the last three baskets to go 48-41 in front.

Ivan Maras in particular had every reason to be smiling heading to the locker rooms after a flawless performance hitting every one of his seven shots and a free-throw for a perfect 15 points in the half.

It didn't take long for the hosts to stretch their lead into double-figures during the third period and they never looked back, crushing the visitors on the boards as they powered their way to victory.

There were many impressive contributions by those in a home vest and to underline a terrific team performance, six players reached double-figures with Vladimir Dragicevic leading the way with 18 points.

Quotes KK Buducnost vs. Apoel

Dejan Radonjic, head coach of Buducnost m:tel:
"I am very satisfied with the victory and with the game that we did tonight. We entered into the game without any energy or concentration. And we played on that way without faults until 18:28 for them. Than we imposed our rhythm, put more aggression in it. We played better as the game went on. With a lot of easy points we brought back self-confidence. In the second half our defense was much better. It was a very clear win. I hope that we would continue with good practices. According to the results in our Group K nothing is over, yet.

Christos Stylianides, head coach of Apolon:
Congratulations to Buducnost for the win. Thanks for the hospitality. They were better than we are in all areas of the game. If you look at the statistic you will see that they had more than 82 percent for two points, 47 for three that is something incredible. We knew that they are good team. It is difficult to play against a team with so aggressive defense with so much pressure on the ball. They try to put us in their rhythm and they succeed in it, tonight. We have to play with two new players in the team which was bad for us. This is only one loss. We have to continue. There are three more games in front of us and both teams have chances.

Gerben Van Dorpe, player of Apolon:
I am very disappointed with our performance today because we didn't follow the game plan that we set up before the game. The plan was to control the rhythm of the game to play lower... We know they are young team and want to run. But we allowed almost 50 points in first half, their domination in offence and we couldn't win the game with that defense on the road. Buducnost was very strong in defense and made a lot of problem to us in offence. That was the game.