It wasn't that long ago that Ales Pipan was calling the shots as the coach of Slovenia, trying to engineer a run to the Beijing Games via the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

While the Slovenians played well early on, they came unstuck against Puerto Rico and missed out on travelling to China.

Pipan is now on the club scene and at the helm of KK Zlatorog in Slovenia.

One of his aims is to steer the team safely through a EuroChallenge Qualifying Round 1 tie with Amak Ohrid.

They will travel to Ohrid in nearby FYR of Macedonia and take on Amak on Tuesday in the first leg.

"We know everything about our opponent," Pipan said confidently. "We got really detailed information, we also watched two DVDs.

"They are from last season, but that doesn't change many things - Amak are still a very young and talented squad.

"We will have to be at our best to get to the second round of qualification."

Zlatorog should be in a good mood after rolling to a 98-59 win at Epic Misel on Saturday.

In that game, Ante Mašić and Uroš Lučič each scored 19 points and Ali Miguel Berdiel 17.

Nejc Strnad and Salih Nuhanovič chipped in 13 apiece.

Pipan believes his team has an edge going into the showdown.

"I think we are better," he said, "especially under the basket. While I think we also have some advantages on the outer positions - especially with the playmaker."

Even if Zlatorog are successful over the two legs, they will have to win a tie in the Qualifying Round 2.

"I don't know if reaching the group stage is realistically possible, but we will do everything to make it happen," he said.

"Our players need these kinds of games to be successful at the end of the season, when we will aim very high in our domestic competitions.

"We want to bring the basketball glory back to Lasko. First we want to qualify for the Adriatic League."