Kozuv took the lead once but at the right time

KK Kozuv defeated KK Sutjeska 79-76 at home in a wild game at the start of the Second Stage of EUROHOLD Balkan League. With this victory the team from Gevgelija is leading group D with 3 wins and 0 defeats while Sutjeska is with 1-2 record. Next week Kozuv will host Rilski Sportist while the team from Niksic will play Sigal Prishtina at home. The people in Gevgelija witnessed a great match in which the visitors led from the start almost to the finish. Kozuv took the lead for first time with 15 seconds to go and it was at the right moment as the team managed to hold on for the victory.
 
Sutjeska started strong and scored the first seven points of the game. Kozuv′s first basket was a triple with three minutes played and the team cut its deficit but the visitors continued to lead until the end of the first quarter as they had 2-point edge. 
 
At the start of the second the game was very even with the score being tied or Sutjeska leading by little. However at one point the visitors made a 9-0 run and moved up by 9 points. Later the advantage went to 12 as Pavlicevic and Vranjes were making important three-pointers which kept the lead in double digits. Just before the break Albijanic scored for the home team but Sutjeska held a good 8-point advantage after 20 minutes.
 
Shortly after the break the hosts managed to take the deficit down ot 5 points but then Vranjes scored important triple and after that Sutjeska scored another three points to go up by 11. A bit later with the visitors leading by 7, Radosav Spasojevic scored two three-pointers and the advantage went up to 13 points with four minutes to play in the third quarter.  In those minutes the teams exchanged two 6-0 runs before Nesovic scored at the buzzer for the hosts to cut the deficit to 11.
 
After Aleksa Ilic dunked again the visitors′s lead jumped to 15 points. After that Kozuv scored 9 in a row to cut its deficit but Nikola Pavlicevic responded with amazing three-pointer in crucial moment for the visiting team. Kozuv then cut the gap to 5 but once again Sutjeska scored a triple in the right moment, this time by Ilic. Still with 78 seconds to go the hosts closed the gap to just three points and kept their chances alive. In the next offense Nesovic stole the ball from Pavlicevic who then was whistled for unsportsmanlike foul. He made both free throws but after him Brckov missed and Sutjeska grabbed the ball. A missed  three-points by Vranjes gave the hosts a chance to win and Nesovic was fouled with 15 seconds to play. He made both free throws and gave Kozuv its first lead of the game. Then the visitors had the last offense but Vranjes lost the ball and Brckov was fouled and went to the line. He scored twice and after Pavlicevic missed, the game was over.
 
Aleksej Nesovic and Filip Sepa were the top scorers for the winners with 15 points apiece as Drasko Albijanic added 12 and 7 rebounds coming off the bench.
 
The visitors shot 41 three-pointers and made 13 of them and were very close to take the win. They also had 11 offensive rebounds but scored only 2 points from them. Nikola Pavlicevic had 19 points and 5 assists for Sutjeska as Radosav Spasojevic added 16 points.

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FULL STATS FROM THE GAME KK KOZUV - KK SUTJESKA