A new edition of the U-18 Serbian Final Round tournament started today in Vrsac (Hemofarm ended first in the regular season) with the absence of Nenad Miljenovic ('93), who left FMP Zeleznik some days ago, but with a huge group of prospects trying to drive their teams to the title. And the surprise arrived early. In the first contest Red Star, with a crazy Aleksandar Cvetkovic ('93), eliminated FMP after an overtime (82-83). The guard -who played 44 minutes- scored 46 points (10/25 twos, 3/4 threes and 17/20 ft), pulled down 5 rebounds and dished 5 assists for a 45 index. No comment. Ivan Marinkovic ('93) also made a good job for winners with 14 points, 18 boards and 5 blocks. Who shined for FMP? Stefan Popovski-Turanjanin ('93) had 25 points (even 8/22 FG) and 11 rebounds, while Nemanja Bezbradica ('93) nailed 16 posting 9 boards.
In the second battle of the day in Vrsac Mega Vizura beat Radnicki (83-80) behind Nikola Vujevic ('93): 16 points (8/11 FG) and 15 rebounds. Rising star Vasilije Micic ('94) helped with 18 points, 9 assists and 6 boards. The good job of Stefan Zecevic ('93) wasn't enough at the losing effort. The prospect scored 30 points (5/9 from downtown) distributing 2 assists.
The third spot in semifinals will be for Mladost after beating Novi Sad (75-85). International guard Sasa Avramovic ('93) led the victory with 30 points (11/20 FG) and 8 rebounds, even he made 8 turnovers. Beside him also shined Milos Jankovic ('94), who ended with a 37 index: 16 points, 21 boards, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Novi Sad went back home even the good performance of Mihailo Vasic ('93), who scored 22 points, pulled down 17 rebounds and dished 6 assists. Guard Stefan Pot ('94) had 19 points, 8 boards and 4 assists.
Finally Hemofarm, the main favorite of the event, took the last spot after crashing Partizan (97-70). Wasn't necessary a big performance of their star Luka Mitrovic ('93). The power-forward played only 20 minutes, enough to collect 13 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. Easy. The best local was Nemanja Krstic ('93): 24 points (10/18 FG), 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Djorde Milosevic ('93) added 21 with 8/15 FG. For Belgrade squad no player over a 11 index, with a total 1/19 from downtown. Aleksandar Djordjevic ('93) scored 15 points, adding 7 assists and 6 rebounds.
-Atatched, a video recorded by Eurohopes of Aleksandar Cvetkovic in the NIJT of Belgrade.
Photo: FIBA Europe / Tomas Tumalovicius
