The second final in a row, but this time both happiness and joy for Spartak from Subotica! The basketball players from the north of Bačka are the new champions of the Basketball League of Serbia, as tonight in the grand final in the “Čair” hall in Niš, after a great drama and overtime, they managed to defeat FMP in what can be called a historical final in which neither of the eternal rivals was present – 76:73!
The Spartak team looked far more organized in this final match through a good 35 minutes, but then they “got scared” of victory. Attack-wise, Vlada Jovanović’s team looked much more mature and constantly kept the Panthers behind their backs. Only at moments did it seem as if FMP could do something more, but in the end, a great drama was seen after all.
FMP managed to equalize with 15 seconds left in the game, and that was after Spartak did not score a single point in the last five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. Moreover, after Hanlan dropped the ball during a layup, the Panthers had 1.8 seconds left for an attack for the win.
FMP’s idea to go for an alley-oop from the baseline failed. Spartak guarded its rim well, so in the end, we watched an additional five minutes of basketball in the Niš hall “Čair”.
Spartak did not manage to find easy points in overtime either, but with a score by Stefan Momirov, they still managed to take the lead with less than two minutes to go (73:72). The hands of both teams tightened up then, because it was clear that the stakes were huge!
Filip Barna then hit one free throw for an equalizer (73:73) with 47 seconds left in the match. Danilo Nikolić scored after that for Spartak’s lead, only for Barna to miss a three-pointer on the other side.
Olivier Hanlan got two free throws after being fouled, and he hit only one free throw, leaving hope for the Panthers that they could reach another overtime with 7.9 seconds on the scoreboard.
The FMP basketball players had two chances for that, but they missed both times and Spartak became the champion of Serbia!
Previously, the first five minutes of the match brought us a real shootout between the two teams. We watched extremely efficient basketball, where on one side Olivier Hanlan was very cheerful, reaching a double-digit number of points in less than four minutes, while on the other side Filip Barna led the way.
The score see-saw was constantly in effect and the lead moved from one side to the other, attack after attack. Spartak was still the one that had a one-basket advantage at the first television timeout – 15:13.
Over time, Spartak’s defense started doing its job much better, so with a three-pointer by Medarević with about a minute left in the first period, they led with a seven-point surplus. Still, FMP managed to close in by the end, so after 10 minutes of basketball, the scoreboard read 24:19 in favor of the team from Subotica.
A real “barrage” by the Spartak Subotica team continued at the beginning of the second quarter. Vlada Jovanović’s boys looked extremely fast-running in those moments, and with a three-pointer by Hawkins, they managed to reach their first double-digit lead of the match – 31:19.
It got heated in the middle of the second quarter, when after a foul in the middle of the court, Radosavljević and Ilić found themselves in a confrontation. The FMP basketball player then committed his already fourth foul, and since both of them ended up on the ground, a commotion broke out, involving the other players as well.
Everything quieted down relatively quickly anyway and passed without technical fouls after reviewing the footage. Despite that, Spartak still led quite convincingly, and the difference hovered around +10. However, the rhythm of the match completely dropped in the second half of the second quarter, especially when the Subotica team was concerned.
FMP managed to close in again by halftime and make this final interesting, as seven points separated the two teams at the big break – 41:34.
Just when it seemed that FMP was managing to catch up in this match, a response arrived from Spartak in the form of two hit three-pointers via Hanlan and Drobnjak. The difference rose to double digits again.
Although the Panthers fought in every way to somehow return to a one-possession deficit, they did not succeed. A three-pointer by Rebić and a layup by Gegić took Spartak to +12 just before the end of the third quarter. Already then it could be hinted that it would be very difficult for the team from Železnik to get involved in the fight for the trophy. Before the last ten minutes, there was a 13-point surplus for the team from the north of Bačka – 63:50.
FMP woke up just before the end of the match. It was as if the Spartak basketball players thought with five minutes to go that they had already finished the job when they had a ten-point surplus (68:58), but that was far from true.
The Panthers managed to approach and make this match extremely dramatic, as with a basket by Filip Barna with a little less than two minutes to go, the FMP team reduced the difference to just four points – 68:64!
Shock after shock then lined up for the basketball players of Spartak from Subotica, who could not get to the basket at all. FMP managed to equalize through Scott and Radovanović, but 14.9 seconds remained on the scoreboard for Spartak’s final attack.
Hanlan went for a layup and messed up quite a bit. The ball went out of bounds off him, so he also left hope for the Panthers that they could reach a victory through the regular 40 minutes. That did not happen, so in the end, we went into overtime.
There, what we already told you at the very beginning of the report happened. This was truly a final to remember, and Spartak and Subotica will celebrate for a long time!
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Source: Telegraf.rs Photo: Damir Vujković / ABA liga