The Lions qualified too

About an hour and a half after Feni Industries from the FYROM secured qualification for the quarter finals from Group ? of the regular season, Swisslion Takovo from neighbouring Serbia were through as well. The team from Vrsac won their home encounter with CSU Cuadripol Brasov - 76-55 - and are now tied for first in the tables of both the Serbian league and their BIBL group. In the latter the Lions and Feni now hold a 4-1 record and even if one of these teams loses all three of its remaining games, it cannot drop down to 5th, as their Tuesday night opponents Radnicki and CSU Cuadripol are now both at 1-4 and face each other in their next fixture tomorrow.
 
Against the Romanian team the Lions showed that they are able to control the game from start to finish, thanks to their good approach and performance in defence. Yet, the visitors from Brasov managed to maintain a 1 point balance at the end of the 1st quarter, never trailing by more than 6 and sometimes even leading in the course of that one. However, in the 2nd quarter the Lions let in only 6 points and already the outcome of the game was virtually decided with a score of 39-26 at half-time. At that stage Lions team captain Radovan Markovic had taken a firm hold of the game by having already netted 16 points. He then added only 2 in the second half, but he had already done his job and the CSU Cuadripol players knew it would be very hard to come back.
 
The Romanian team didn`t surrender though and tried to achieve more in the 3rd frame. They scored 19 points in that one, but that was not enough as it was matched by the hosts. Thanks to their good defense in the 4th quarter the Lions gained an extra advantage of 8 points, ending that frame with a score of 18-10, which was enough for a convincing victory with an over 20 point margin - 76-55.
 
Radovan Markovic`s 18 points, were complemented by the outstanding efforts of other players such as Vladimir Popovic, with 14 points, Nemanja Kovacevic, with 12 points, and Danilo Mijatovic, with 10 points. But above all was the great team play of Swisslion Takovo, since all 11 players were introduced in the rotation.
 
On the other hand, the best impression in the visiting team was made by another Serbian player - center Sasa Mijailovic, who scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
 
At the press conference after the game Mijalovic said that it was a totally rightful victory for the Lions:
"We knew that this would be a tough game for us. We did not have a solution for their good defence and we scored only 55 points."
 
The coach of CSU Cuadripol, Dan Calancea, was not satisfied with the performance of his team, especially in the 2nd and 4th quarter:
"We had a lot of problems with players before this game, as well as a difficult schedule – we played 6 games in just 8 days."
 
Lions guard Nemanja Kovacevic pointed out that this was a very tough game, although the final result seemed quite convincing in favour of his team:
"This is a model of how we should play in the upcoming games, both in the local championship and the Balkan League."
 
Lions coach Dejan Mijatovic stressed that the victory was extremely important since they defeated the opposing team from Brasov for the second time:
"After the defeat to Radnicki it was imperative for us to win and keep the top position in the group. We distributed playing time equally to all 11 players. Congratulations to my players for their efforts. This victory proves that the team has character and this triumph certainly means a lot to us in the face of the next road game in Kraljevo with Sloga."