Lions and Mega HL stumble in the Serbian league, Radnicki win on the road

Over the past weekend Swisslion Takovo conceded only their third defeat in the Basketball League of Serbia so far, losing to Metalac Valjevo at home; Mega Hypo Leasing`s performance was even more disappointing, as they lost by a big margin to a team that was (and still is) behind them in the league table - Sloga Kraljevo; out of the three Serbian BIBL participants only Radnicki 034 Group were able to win their weekend fixture, away at Tamis Petrohemija Pancevo.
 
Swisslion Takovo`s 68-77 home defeat to Metalac was largely due to a poor first half performance in front of their fans in Vrsac. They allowed a 9-point run by the visitors in the final minutes of the first quarter to trail 13-20, then had another 10 weak minutes and it was 30-43 at half-time. In the second half the Lions did everything they could to turn it around, but it proved not so easy against a strong opponent like Metalac and the hosts had to swallow a loss by a 9 point margin. Point guard Sasa Ocokoljic once again led the scores for Swisslion Takovo, as he netted 19 points, 8 of those from the charity stripe. Center Dusan Knezevic and forward Vladimir Vlaskovic added 13 and 10 points respectively, but the Lions big issue was on the boards - none of their players had more than 6 and as a team they were outrebounded 23-33. Despite the loss, they are still clear league leaders with a record of 18-3.
 
Mega Hypo Leasing had a miserable day in Kraljevo, losing 96-74 to a team that had 3 wins less in its record. Sloga dominated all but the last quarter of the game, and it if it wasn`t for those closing 10 minutes, the visitors would have lost by a margin of more than 30, maybe even 40 points. They were behind by 20 at half-time already and then by 34 after the third quarter (76-42). The Sloga Kraljevo players decided to spare some effort though and played much looser defence in the fourth quarter, allowing Mega HL to cut theit deficit by some 12 points until the final buzzer. Stefan Stojacic scored 19 in the loss, Aleksandar Mitrovic was just behind him with 17, while Mladen Pantic had 10 points. Mega HL is now at 10-11 and tied for 6th place in the table with two other teams.
 
Radnicki 034 Group had much better fortunes, stealing a win on the road versus a team that pre-game had (the same as Sloga) record of 7-14 - Tamis Petrohemija Pancevo. The team from Kragujevac fought hard and got their reward - an 84-88 victory in a very close affair. Radnicki led during most of the first quarter, then Tamis promptly came back in the closing minutes of the first half and it was all tied at the break - 46-46. Mid third quarter the visitors took the lead again and kept it until the very end, but it was always a slim advantage for them and the threat of a quick turnaround was there. Radnicki 034 Group held on though and recent new acquisition (from another BIBL team - Mega HL) Igor Mijajlovic sealed he victory at the end with two successful free throw attempts. The guard had good shooting percentages and notched up a total of 19 points in the game. Even more prolific in their team`s victory were fellow guard Uros Duvnjak (21 points and 6 assists) and power forward Rajko Kljajevic (25 points). Radnicki 034 Group are still in 5th place, now with a 12-9 record and edging ever closer to the Top 4 in the table.