Recap: U15 Serbia F8 Tournament

From 10-12. May in the Vizura Sport hall in Zemun we had the opportunity to watch the U15 Final Tournament of the Serbian Championship. The eight best teams from Serbia showed the knowledge, talent, skill and, above all, the reason why they are here. All the teams showed up in great light, and we will look back at the games that we had the opportunity to watch during the past three days.

QUARTERFINAL

Foka – Zemun 87:98

The first match on the tournament and immediately the first surprise. Zemun, who during the whole season was considered an underdog, as a fifth went from the league of Belgrade, had problems throughout the season, but how the season saw him rise to form and played better. On the other hand, Foka had a convincing season, finishing the Interregional League in second place and having played a great semi-final tournament in Belgrade, winning the first place where she won the Mega Bemax among others.
Zemun better opens the game with a series 5: 0 through S. Adžić that Foka would later wake up with her aggressive defense and easy points from transition and at the end of the first quarter run 21:17. By the middle of the second quarter, he was a resuscitative egal, where Foka had a minimal advantage over M. Đorđević, so that Zemun would then strongly defend Foka’s best players with a strong defense, and with the patient attack and several hit threes of S. Lukic and M. Tonic, as well as a number of important penetrations J. Filipovic reversed the result and went on a break with a big 10 points advantage. In the second half Zemun continues in the same rhythm with a brilliant shot from the outside of S. Adžić, S. Lukic and M. Tonic, but Foka does not give up and penetration through M. Djordjevic and a couple of shot shots of N. Filipovic and U. Vidosavljevic, who also woke , enter the last division with only 2 points in the minus. In the last quarter, N. Filipovic, although a year younger, took responsibility and returned the result to the side of Foca, but J. Filipovic took the things into his own hands then and with a few shots from outside and held several penetrations the advantage that M. Tonić and D. Šviković would later be joined with several points under the basket and this put a point on this match for final 98:87.

Borac – Trijumf 79:70

Borac came to the F8 tournament as first placed in their interregional league, without any defeat in the season. Trijumf is also the first in its interregional league, with only one defeat against Visura in the semifinal tournament.
Borac starts the match with a 11: 2 series thanks to a strong defense and easy transition points where Đ. Ćurčić and V. Veljović dominated, so that later with some of their mistakes they would allow Trijumf to return the result in the first place through M. Trajković and at the end of the first quarter were only 6 points behind. Trijumf starts better in the second quarter and above all through P. Andrić and U. Stanković manages to rush to come, but Đ. Ćuričić and V. Veljović continue in the same rhythm and maintain these 6 points of advantage. The trijumf with M. Trojkovič’s three and the breakthroughs of P. Andrić manages to reach -2, at one point even to the tied the game, but Borac’s excellent team play also The third quarter ends with +3 for Borac. Immediately at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Đ. Ćurčić rises to +3 with his three , although Trijumf had problems with personal fouls of his best players. They did not lecture and played until the end, but they did not have the strength to do anything more. At the end, Borac relates victory to the result 79:70.

Vizura – Partizan 66:75

Duel of two Belgrade teams. Partizan which was in the second part of the season was in the fall of the form and after the first part of the season where they finished without a defeat in the first place they ended up as fourth, while Vizura had played better all over the season and expected a real derby.
A tough game from the very start, with few points and a lot of fouls and turnovers on both sides. The Vizura best player M. Krstić entered with foul troubles early in the game and was forced to leave the game in order to keep the coach for a further stream of the game. Partizan’s team game comes to the point in the attack, while Vizura is mostly held by L. Ivanjac in the game. In the second quarter I. Milijasevic wakes up and ties a couple of points with a great contribution from his bigs, on the other side of Vizura through L. Ivanjac and Đ. Lazarevic responds and we were watching resultant egal where Vizura goes with 1 point advantage on break. In the second half, Partizan started a shot. First, N. Šarenac opens the second half with two threes, later joined M. Vešković and E. Tahmaz. Vizura tries to return through M. Krstic, which connects several points, but Partizan responds through excellent L. Divjak with several points from the penetration for +12 at the end of the third quarter. L. Vudragovic and Dj. Lazarevic are trying to get back Vizura, they managed to get up to 5 points behind, better than that they could not. In the end, Partizan goes to the semifinals with a win of 75:66.

Crvena Zvezda – Banjica Mega 80:82

Again two Belgrade teams. Probably the most interesting game of the quarterfinals. Both teams are well-known, played this season several times against each other and we watched an open match.
Mega better opens a match with easy points from transition by A. Paunovic and a few hit outside shots by N. Djurisic, but Zvezda responds first through P. Savic with important rebounds and points under the basket, then outside from U. Malavrazic and important points L. Andric for +3 at the end of the first quarter. F. Radakovic with two and 1 raises the advantage of the Zvezda, but Mega responds first through N. Djurisic, then with the threes of S. Jeremic, P. Miletic and T. Topalovic. On the other hand, many missed lay ups and free throws of the Zvezda to make Mega go off +5 at halftime.
Zvezda starts much more aggressively in the second half, so that in the middle of the third quarter D. Kostic hit the three and take a lead. From that moment we see the results of egal. V.Pavlović and D. Kostić with a couple of very important points bring the Zvezda advantage at the beginning of the last part, so that S. Jeremić with 3 three pointers and N. Đurišić with one return the result to the Mege side. Minutes and half before the end of the match N. Đapa from free throw line brings Mega two points advantage, so that F. Radaković will tied the result very quickly, but P. Miltetić returns Mega +3 to a very important three. After the timeout V. Pavlović hit a tough shot from the penalty line, which he may have been fouled, drops to -1. Zvezda had an attack for the win, but V. Pavlović could not have hit from the difficult situation. A. Paunovic after that hit one ft, which was sufficient for the final 82:80 and the victory of Mega and the placement in the semifinals.

SEMIFINALS

Zemun – Borac 75:71

Both teams went uncertainly with a lot of mistakes. Rezultat teeter was during the entire first quarter until S. Adic and J. Filipovic tie the points for Zemun and with +4 saved a quarter in their favor. J. Filipović continues in the same rhythm to lead his team. Đ. Ćurčić, the best player of Borac, couldn’t find his shot, but that’s why S. Mikavica is in the mood. Still, Zemun with great sets for his center D. Šviković scored a few easy points and went off with a +7 on break. S. Mikavica opens the second half with two triples and returns Borac to the resultant egal, and V. Veljovic joins with a couple of points in the penetration. On the other hand, M. Tonic responds with a few very important points and assists, and in the last quarter he enters +3 for Zemun. In the last section, Borac squeezed the defense and Đ. Ćurčić finally finds a shot and Borac reverses the score and goes on 6 points advantage. After that, Zemun responds, firstly M. Tonic three, then J. Filipovic with six points scored from the penetration and for 2 minutes to the end the result was tied 71:71. There followed a couple of unrealized attacks on both sides so that ultimately D. Šviković would have scored lay up after offensive rebound 30 seconds before the end of the game and brought the advantage to Zemun. Borac after that did not realize his attack and J. Filipović from the free throw line sets the final result 75:71 for Zemun, placement in the finals and a historic result for that club.

Partizan – Banjica Mega 81:77

The other semifinals Mega starts better with three point of A. Prokopic and couple N. Djurisic’s points, so that Partizan will increase aggressiveness in the defense and the points scored by I. Milijasevic and E. Tahmaza will overtake the result. Nevertheless, P. Avlijaš with three in the last second of the first quarter brings a minimal advantage to Mega. In another quarter Mega in a much better rhythm, gradually increased the advantage of reaching the maximum +9. Then I. Milijasevic returns Partizan with a three pointer and with two and 1. L. Divjak and M. Vešković are joined with a few points from the penetration, but Mega resists the triple S. Jeremić and N. Đurišić’s free throws keeps +2 at halftime. Again, Mega better opens a quarter and maximizes the advantage that Partizan will, first of all through L. Divjak, be able to bring back the result egal and triple N. Sarenens for the first time. N. Djurisic, for whom Partizan did not have a solution at that moment, returns the advantage to the side of the Mage, so that I. Milijasevic responded with a few points from the outside and from the penalties, and in the last quarter, the result was tied. The last quater was a basket for basket until N. Šarenac with a three pointer and with and 1 put Partizan on +5. Mega tried to get back. In those moments, I. Milijasevic well closed N. Djurisic, but P. Avlijas worked out. However, L. Divjak with first long two, and then points from the penetration reflects the last run of Mege and Partizan with a 81:77 win and placed in the final.

3RD PLACE GAME

Borac – Banjica Mega 57:93

Mega apparently recovered faster from defeat in the semifinal. Borac was competitive only in the first quarter, and they also started it slowly. Mega from start through A. Prokopic and N. Djurisic makes +9 points advantage, so that Borac later woke up through S. Mikavica and Dj. Ćurčić reversed the score and finish the first quarter in his favor. In the continuation of the game Mega adds gas and a totally reverse game in its favor led by N. Đapa and N. Đurišić. In the indefinable Borac, S. Mikavica was the only one in the mood, but he could not do anything on his own. At the end convincing win 93:57 for the Mega and the bronze medal.

FINAL

Zemun – Partizan 83:87

Partizan start with better confidence and more aggressive. A lot of players, led by I. Milijasevic, who was scoring and findig open teammates and go for a very short time to +11, and then thanks to Partizan’s bad decisions in the attack, but also the maestral M. Tonic Zemun managed to return the result again The first quarter reduces the advantage to only -3. In the second quarter, we looked at the result egal. A lot of gamesome players on both sides. Everyone contributed and went to the halftime with an tie result. Partizan aggressively opens the second half and takes advantage with a few easy points, but Zemun responds with, first points of J. Filipovic, and then with two threes of M. Tonic and goes on to a maximum of +4. After the timeout, Partizan increased aggressiveness in the defense, resulting in easy transition points and an incredible 14: 0 series for Partizan. Many probably thought that this was the end, but not the guys from Zemun. They continued to play patiently and slightly dissolved the advantage of Partizan and left for the break before the last quater with only 2 points behind. Partizan again opens a better quarter with the points of L. Divjak, N. Šarenac and I. Milijasevic, but Zemun each time had a reply through J. Filipovic, M. Tonic and in the end they were joined by D..Svikovic and S. Adzic. For a minute to finish, N. Šarenac brings +2 Partizan from free throw line, and on the other side J. Filipović hits only 1 of 2. In the next attack, I. Milijasevic takes responsibility for Partizan and score from drive for +3. After a timeout, J. Filipović had a tough shot from the corner for overtime but was not accurate. In the end, Partizan from the free throw line only confirms the win of 87:83 and the win of the title of the championship of Serbia!

MVP

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