Lions lead the Serbian league, Mega HL and Radnicki with losses on the road

Only one of the 3 Serbian participants in the Eurohold Balkan League had reasons to be happy after the last games of the year 2008 in the Basketball League of Serbia. That was Swisslion Takovo, who had an easy 80-59 home victory over middle-of-the-table Vizura. But the Lions` main reason for being satisfied at the turn of the year is the fact they continue to top the domestic league standings with a record of 13-2.
 
Their 13th victory was a foregone conclusion as early as the middle of the first half, when after one quarter they already had a double digit lead - 20-10. A couple of minutes before half-time Vizura briefly managed to cut it to 5 points (27-22), but another strong spell by the hosts made it a 14-point margin at the break - 40-26. The Lions kept up the pressure throughout the second half. In the third quarter they built an already decisive lead of 19 points - 61-42, while in the fourth they had one or two moments of loss of concentration, but never let their advantage drop below 14. At the end Swisslion Takovo even broke the 20-point margin barrier to win by 21. Sasa Ocokoljic was the MVP of the game for the home team with 16 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Recent roster addition Dusan Jelic contributed with 12 points and 6 rebounds, while three other of Lions` players scored into double figures as well.
 
Another Eurohold BIBL competitor - Radnicki 034 Group Kragujevac - had an away game with a team, that is even lower in the league standings - namesake Radnicki Invest Inz. Novi Sad. The team from Karguevac suffered a loss by just three points and is still stuck in the middle of the table in 7th place at 7-8. After a competitive first quarter, the hosts took a crucial 10-point lead at half time (36-26) and never allowed a complete turnaround by Radnicki 034 Group until the end. Yet, the visitors managed to tie the scores at 66-66 with less than 5 minutes to go, but couldn`t do more than that and eventuallly lost 76-73. Both Rajko Kljajevic and Danilo Draskovic had 16 points and 8 rebounds in the loss, while Draskovic and Uros Duvnjak added 7 and 6 assists respectively.
 
The Serbian team in Group B of the Eurohold BIBL - Mega Hypo Leasing - ended the year on a low note in the local league too. The Belgrade team travelled to Valjevo for a game with Metalac and were soundly beaten 97-83. Nothing was going for Mega HL and at one point near the end of the first half they found themselves trailing by as much as 19 points, 15 at half-time - 54-39. Both the third and the fourth quarter were competitive in themselves, but the visitors never managed to compensate for their poor opening 20 minutes and had to put up with the loss. In that game too there were two players for the losing side with exactly identical scoring and rebounding record - Uros Nikolic and Strahinja Dragicevic with 22 points and 4 boards apiece. Young shooting guard Stefan Stojacic, who is otherwise the team top scorer in both the domestic league and BIBL, made 4 three-pointers and finished with 16 pts. In the standings Mega HL is just ahead of fellow BIBL competitor Radnicki 034 Group, in 6th place at 8-7.