Napredak took their fourth win and keep chances for the 1/4 finals

           KK Napredak Rubin attained a very though and important road victory in Mostar against the local HKK Zrinjski - 62:64, in a postponed game from the 8th round of EUROHOLD Balkan League regular season. With this win the team from Krusevac tied Feni Industries with 4-4 record (the current BIBL champion has advantage in the direct games with Napredak)  in the standings of group B, keeping their chance to play in the Quarter-final play-offs.  On the other side HKK Zrinjski, which team were left by two key players  – Diego Kapelan  and Ermin Jazvin, in the last month, had only 9 players in their roster for the tonight’s game. After the defeat, Zrinjski stayed 5^th on 1-7, without chance to continue in the next phase.

 
           In the opening quarter of the game the guest team go ahead with a
bigger lead, as Aco Mandic has excellent percentage in his shooting, scoring 14 points. Before.  Zrinjski started with a 4:0, but in the sixth minute of the game Napredak has already 6 points lead.  In the last 120 seconds of the period the
Serbian team managed to increased their lead to 9 points - 11:20.
 
           Napredak started the second quarter very strong, and after 3 minutes they had a comfortable 13 points lead  - 26:13, after a nice made move under the basket by Sasa Mihajlovic.  Despite the good start, the guest probably thought that they have already decide the game and decreased the tempo, while Zrinjski  used to come back in the game, as the team from Mostar managed to score 18 points until the end of the period.  Napredak made 6 turnovers in only 4 minutes, which was decisive for the dropping of their lead. Halfway through the game the score was 5 points more for Napredak Rubin – 31:36.
 
             In the begining of the third period,  the host made a 4:0 record,  after a successful lay-up by Marcel Jones, they managed to decrease the difference to only 1 point – 35:36 in the 24^th minute of the game.  But Napredak quickly took the game in their hands, as the team from Krusevac tried to control the game, leading with a small advance until the end of the quarter.  Despite that they lost all chances to qualify for the playoffs long time ago, HKK Zrinjski showed a great fairplay, as all available players came  100% ready for the game..  After 30 minutes on the court “Rubins” were up by 2 – 49:51.

             In the fourth quarter Zrinjski continued to play well, as they managed to tied the score and even to take the lead for a while. With 2 points from Marcel Jones, followed by a lay-up by Luka Klarica, the hosts were up 53:51, but once again Napredak turned the things very quickly and in less then a minute the lead was in their hands.  In the next 3 minutes neither team manage to go ahead with more than 2 points,  as after Marcel Jones come to the free-throw line, scoring both shoots and tied the score – 58:58, 4 minutes before the final whistle. In the next offences the lack of success was decisive for Zrinjski, as their opponents also could not score, but were successful in the free-throws. Napredak went ahead with 4 points, but Obrad Tomic made a jump shot setting the score to 61:63, with 1:33 minutes remaining. Then first Petar Beader made a 3 seconds violation, but in Zrinjski’s next
offence Luka Klarica made only 1 of 2 from the free throw line. Slobodan Pejovic missed for Napredak and the hosts got another opportunity to take the lead. But Luka Klarica lost the ball and Petar Beader went from two free shots. The Serbian
power forward made only the second one and Zrinjski took time out with 17
seconds to the end of the game at 62:64. Marcel Jones was quickly foul-on, but the American missed both free-throws, which decided the game. In the remaining seconds nothing else happened and Napredak took their 4^th win in EUROHOLD Balkan League.