Feni Industries through to the quarters

Macedonians Feni Industries wrapped up their place in the quarterfinal stage of the Eurohold BIBL inaugural season with a convincing home victory against Serbian side Radnicki 034 Group - 92-60. The team from Kavadarci is now tied for first in the standings of Group A of the competition with a record of 4-1. If the Macedonians can do enough to hold on to that pole position over the 3-game away trip they are facing in 2009, they will have the easiest possible opponent for the next stage - the 4th seed from Group B. The loss leaves Radnicki 034 Group tied for 4th place in the group table at 1-4 and still struggling to qualify.
 
Feni Industries took an early 9-0 lead and never looked back. By the end of the first quarter they had not only managed to hold on to their advantage but had even increased it to 12 points - 27-15.
 
The visitors opened the second 10 minute period on a high note with a three-pointer by Ivan Milosevic, but then they remained scoreless until 3 minutes before the break. In the meantime the home team had already netted 47 points for a staggering 20-0 run and a lead of 29. The Serbs managed to come alive a bit in those 3 minutes until half-time, but they still had to start the second half with a 25-point deficit - 52-27.
 
Goran Samardziev (12 pts) and Donald Cole (10 pts) had flown Feni`s flag high in the first 20 minutes, while none of Radnicki`s players had more than 5 points under their belt.
 
In the beginning of the second half Feni big man Cole continued from where he had left off in the first, netting the opening 6 points for a score of 58-29. Then the Kragujevac team had 8 of the next 9 points to bring the difference down a bit - 59-37. That proved to be their last meagre attempt at a come-back in the game though. At the end of the 3rd quarter the home team`s lead had already grown to almost 30 points - 71-42.
 
The 30-point mark was hit as early as 19 seconds into the last period and with 4 points by Feni foward Marjan Gjurov it was 33 (75-42) after 31 minutes of play. 4 minutes later the visitors were still stuck at 46 and still looking for their 3-rd basket of the quarter. That was when Feni`s advantage was even up to 40 for a while (86-46). The Serbs were able to regain at least some of their pride by playing better in the last 5 minutes and cutting it to 32 for the final score of 92-60.
 
Five of the home team`s players contributed to the victory by scoring in double digits - Donald Cole (18), Zlatko Gocevski (16), Goran Samardziev (12), Marjan Gjurov and Gjorgi Cekovski (13 each). Donald Cole was the most impressive of all, adding 9 rebound (1 shy of a double double) to his point tally.
 
For the visitors it was two experienced players - Radovan Pesic and Ivan Milosevic - who reached double figures (13 and 10 pts respectively), but their efforts were far from enough.
 
"We played very well and we didn`t allow the opposition to surprise us", said Feni head coach Emil Rajkovic after his team`s win. "We played excellent defence and a complete team game with a good shooting percentage. We also had a strong motivation to win this game - qualifying for the quarter final of the BIBL."
 
In Feni Industries endeavour to now finish first in Group A the Macedonian team`s crunch game will be the one in Vrsac in February, with two other away challenges awaiting them prior to and after that one. Radnicki 034 Group have their most important test in just two days time. Their home game versus the other 1-4 team in the group - CSU Cuadripol, will probably be the decider for that all important 4th place and the cherished quarterfinal slot.