Reflex - Joventut 81-73

Belgrade, March 3, 2004 (ulebcup.com) - Reflex stood up to a hot visitor, DKV Joventut from Spain, and took their quarterfinal series opener 81-73 at home in Belgrade on Wednesday. Reflex will go to Badalona next week trying to win or to lose by less than 8 points in order to advance to the semifinals. The hosts probably wanted more than that amount on their own turf, but a game full of mistakes and turnovers held the margin down at the finish. Joventut, tired after three Spanish Cup games last weekend and the trip to Serbia and Montenegro, could be satisfied with a moderate loss that still keeps hope alive. Reflex's best scorer was Kimani Ffriend with 18 points. He added 7 rebounds. Reggie Freeman, Ognjen Askrabic and Ivan Zoroski added 13 points each. Joventut had only three players with double figures. Nikola Radulovic scored 19 points, Zan Tabak 17 and Rudy Fernandez 11.

Reflex started the game with 5-0 lead after a Freeman layup and an Askrabic triple. A couple minutes later Freeman added his own triple and Ffriend made a put-back for a 10-2 lead, with Joventut's first points coming after 4 minutes on an Alain Digbeu three-pointer. But that shot ignited a 2-10 Joventut run to a 12-12 tie after 7 minutes. Both teams traded baskets until Reflex held a 19-18 advantage after 10 minutes. The hosts began the second period playing zone defense to try to stop the inside game of Tabak and Alfonso Alzamora. Ivan Zoroski came on the court and Reflex played with more velocity on offense. Bojan Krstovic finished the first fastbreak in the game, Zoroski added triple and Reflex led 26-22. Radulovic kep Joventut in the game, however, with 8 points in 4 minutes, untilVanja Plisnic's shot from downtown sparked a 7-0 run that put Reflex ahead 33-26. After Zoroski added his own triple and soon Branko Jorovic scored 2 free throws following a technical foul to make it 40-31. Carles Marco booked his name in the scoring list for Joventut and Fernandez added a final shot to cut the Reflex lead to 42-35 at halftime.

Third period looked like trouble for both teams: Radulovic lost the ball, Plisnic missed a triple, Jorovic commited his fourth foul, Marco missed a layup, Freeman was called for an offensive foul. After 2, someone finally scored, Tabak, and with another basked by Radulovic, Joventut was within 42-39. Ffriend, largely invisible until then, stole the show from Radulovic with 10 points in the next 6 minutes on an assortment of dunks. When Zoroski fired his third three-pointer Reflex led 58-44 and Joventut seemed tired. All except Fernandez, that is. He beat two shot-clock buzzers with triples, demoralizing Reflex, although Askrabic managed a sky hook to reestablished the double-digit lead at 64-54 after 30 minutes.

Tabak opened the final quarter with two layups and Radulovic cut to the basket for another. When Alzamora scored a triple minutes later and Tabak added 2 more points, the visitors were suddenly close again, at 69-65. Askrabic woke up with 4 minutes to go, hitting 2 more triples and a free throw as Radulovic fouled out, boosting the lead to 76-65 with 2 minutes to go. Like Fernandez in the final minutes of the third period, Marco emerged in the final minutes of the game with 2 three-pointers to make it 78-73. Kimani and Sasa Stefanovic got some of them back, but both Reflex and Joventut players left the court watching what happened to Zoroski, who severely injured his knee in the final period.

2003/04 ULEB Cup quarterfinals, first legs - RESULTS

Caprabo - Adecco 82-73
Real - Metis 68-67
Reflex - Joventut 81-73
Hapoel - Lietuvos 79-72