Mega HL made it to the Final Four by one point

After a thrilling game in Vrsac the young and talented Mega Hypo Leasing team sensationally ousted the more highly rated Swisslion Takovo at the quarterfinal stage of the Eurohold Balkan League. Mega HL had surprisingly won their home leg in Belgrade versus the more experienced fellow Serbians by 11 points. Now, even more surprisingly, they managed to hold on and lose by just 10 points - 88-78, which meant they made it through to the Final Four by a mere 1 point on aggregate.
 
As his team eventually had the lucky, but deserved success, Mega HL president Misko Raznjatovic watched on from the stands accompanied by Serbia national team coach Duda Ivkovic and Pamesa Valencia coach Neven Spahija. The latter had had a Eurocup fixture with his team in Vrsac earlier tonight, versus KK Hemofarm. After the Lions - Mega HL game Ivkovic said he was impressed by the level of play in the BIBL, and not only the particular game, but the entire competition, as he was following it closely.
 
The opening minute of the game was somewhat of a shock for the Lions, as the visiting team took a quick 2-7 lead. The favourites reacted early enough though as they answered the 0-7 run with a 12-2 of their own to lead 14-9 in the middle of the 1st quarter. A minute later they even opened up a 7 point lead on power forward Aleksandar Jevdjic`s triple, but his Mega HL counterpart Strahinja Dragicevic hit one of those back to make it 20-16. During the rest of the first quarter home team players went to the foul line quite a lot, but missed some shots from there. Thus the Lions were only leading by 5 points ather 10 minutes of play - 27-22.
 
The second period was even more interesting, as the young and enthusiastic Mega HL players showed their grit and determination. Led by Dragicevic`s scoring efforts, they not only kept the margin at less than the 12 points the hosts neeeded to advance, but even once again took the lead themselves. It happened when a technical on the Lions`s bench after a foul call resulted in 4 successful free throws, followed by Strahinja Dragicevic`s 4th trey of the game, which made it 39-41. Dragicevic had 18 points to his name already (4/5 from behind the arc). His team even led 39-43 and then 46-49, but 5 unanswered points by the hosts in the closing seconds before the break lifted them ahead at half-time - 51-49.
 
Vladimir Vlaskovic and Milos Marjanovic co-led the home team in scoring with 10 points each in the first half. Having netted the last 5 of the first, their team scored the opening 5 of the second too and were now in front by 7 - 56-49. The Mega HL players came out of the brief slump and started scoring too, but now it was a question of only a few points here and there if one team or the other would win the two-leg tie and make it to the Final Four. The visitors kept fighting to keep their deficit down and they were successful for a while - it was still 7 points (64-57) with a minute and a half to go to the end of the 3rd quarter. But then Lions guard Sasa Ocokoljic hit 2 triples in consecutive possessions and the quarter ended at 70-59 - exactly the 11-point margin his team needed to level the whole tie.
 
It looked like the Lions were going away with it when their forward Branko Jorovic opened the last quarter with a three-pointer (73-59). But Mega HL`s season top scorer Stefan Stojacic had other ideas - he returned the triple straight away and quickly added another basket for 73-64. That interrupted the flow and the confidence boost of the of the home team players. In the next few minutes they couldn`t put together another good scoring run to bring their lead back firmly over those crucial 11 points and it was nip and tuck all the way. Each and every score or miss could decide the outcome.
 
The margin fluctuated between 5 and 10 points, but one new that another Lions outburst like the one at the end of the 3rd quarter could decide things in their favour. It never happened, but they still had a great chance to go through - at 88-78 with 14 seconds to go Mega HL`s Dusan Katnic, who had scored 20 points on the night, missed both his free throws and was about to turn from hero to villain. The hosts couldn`t capitalize on that though, as Ocokoljic missed a desperation three-point attempt and Radovan Markovic`s second chance on the rebound didn`t go in either.
 
Despite his late misses from the charity stripe, Dusan Katnic scored 14 points from there and finished as the top scorer and MVP of the game for the visitors tonight - 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Strahinja Dragicevic only had 1 point in the entire 2nd half and ended up with 19 points. Center Uros Nikolic contributed another 19, as well as 11 rebounds. All three of them were in foul trouble, but managed to stay on the court till the end. Stefan Stojacic finished with 4 personal fouls too and didn`t have his best BIBL game, but some of his 12 points were scored in decisive moments, as already mentioned.
 
With 25 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists Sasa Ocokoljic was the most productive player in the game, but that didn`t help his team qualify for the Final Four at the end. They might have done so, if Ocokoljic had finished the game with 28 points... Radovan Markovic, Vladimir Vlaskovic and Milos Marjanovic were the other 3 Swisslion Takovo starters to score into double figures - 15, 13 and 11 respectively.
 
Now Bulgarians Rilski Sportist await Mega Hypo Leasing for their semi at the Final Four on the 24th of this month. Macedonian teams Feni Industries and Fersped Rabotnicki face each other in the other semifinal.