KK Kozuv vs KB Sigal Prishtina

The other semifinal in EUROHOLD Balkan League sees a clash between KK Kozuv and KB Sigal Prishtina. The two teams will meet each other in what should prove to be a good and very hard fought games.

Kozuv reached the semifinal after securing a top spot in the Second Stage as the team also had a great first one. Sigal on the other hand had to go through a quarterfinal but the team from Prishtina outplayed SCM U Craiova and reached to the Top 4.

Kozuv had a great start to the season as the team had 9 straight wins - 8 in the First Stage and 1 to start the Second. The Gevgelija team played very good basketball and was unstopable before Rilski surprised them in their own court. In the First Stage Kozuv was dominating and perhaps the best game was against Sutjeska at the start of the Second when the team came down from 15-point deficit in the last quarter to win by 3. The run of 9 straight wins was already mentioned and actually Kozuv is coming to this semifinal after losing to Sutjeska but in a game which result didn′t matter for the standings.

Kozuv relies on a good team effort and has a lot of options but a big problem will be the absence of Aleksej Nesovic who injured himself earlier in the season. He was the top scorer and main point-guard so Filip Sepa and Eftim Bogojev are trying to fill in for him. Sepa is averaging 11.8 points and 2.7 assists but he is not a true point-guard while Bogojev has 3.5 assists. Under the basket the big guy Drasko Albijanic is making his presence be felt with 11.3 points and 8.9 reboundswhile Vladimir Brckov is with 9.7 points and 4.3 rebounds. The captain Miladin Pekovic and Milan Janjusevic are trying to lead the team from the wings while the youngster Goran Glavchev had some good games earlier and will try to provide some spark. A team effort - this is what will coach Milos Pejic ask from his players and is what can give them the overall win and place in the final.

Kozuv is not the best offensive team as they are ranked only 7th in the league but the team relies a lot on its defense. Their 3-point shooting percentage is one of the best at 34.1% whith 6.6 makes out of 19.4 attempts per game as they are the only team out of the last eight attempting such a small number three-pointers. They are one of the top shooting 2 with 21.8 makes from 40.6 attempts for 53.6% while Kozuv is the best from the free throw line - 14.5 from 18.6 for 77.7%.

KB Sigal Prishtina had some tough times during the season and finally managed to put up a roster that is on a roll. The team has 6 straight wins in the league and is in a very good form before the semifinal. Perhaps the big statement from the team was made at the start of the Second Stage when Sigal won Rilski Sportist by 23 points away. From that moment on they are playing very well and the evidence was shown also against SCM U Craiova a few days ago.

There were some roster changes in Sigal but the one player never in doubt is of course the local start Dardan Berisha. He is the top scorer in the competition with 27.5 points per game and has also 5.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds. He is the heart and soul of that team and is the player everybody is looking for. Edin Bavcic is also having a very good season averaging 16.2 points and 10.4 rebounds and Jordan Hulls overcame a slow start to prove himself and has 13.2 points and 4.1 assists as a point-guard. Julian Mavunga, Bojan Trajkovski, Julius Coles and Demontez Stitt were signed later but are very good additions to the roster and also have their important share for the success. The captain Edmond Azemi and the veteran Blerim Mazreku are also key contributors and are helping in their way. Sigal is playing with a lot of heart and a lot if inspiration which is something the players would like to have also for both semifinal clashes.

Sigal is the third best scoring team with 82.3 points per game and is by far the best 3-point shooting squad - they are averaging 9.9 makes from 24.0 attempts for 41.1%. The two-point shooting is also very good with 20.9 makes out of 38.1 attempts for 54.9% but from the free throw line they suffer a little bit - 10.9 makes from 15.5 attempts for only 70%.

Sigal is a better rebounding team than Kozuv with 34.1 boards per game compared to 33.1 and is much better in the assists department - 18.1 for Sigal and 14.9 for Kozuv. The teams are very evenly matches when it comes to turnovers with 11.9 for Prishtina squad and 12.3 for Kozuv and and also in blocks - 2.0 for Sigal and 2.3 for the team from Gevgelija. Kozuv also has advantage in steals - 6.2 per game compared to 5.6 for Sigal.

What is certain is that two full gyms and two great games are waiting us in this Semifinal clash. Both teams are aiming to win the competition and are aiming to prove they are the best. They were in the same group in the First Stage and Kozuv won both games - 93-78 at home and 100-87 away but Sigal is a different team since then. However it will count for nothing come Wednesday and everybody knows that.

The first match is in Prishtina on Wednesday, April 1st, at 19.30 hrs local time and will be broadcast LIVE on DigitAlb/Supersport, Macedonian National TV and Sportmedia.tv. Enjoy it!