By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Cibona finished its season triumphing in Cedevita’ s home court. The team of coach Jasmin Repesa got the win by 13 points (77-64) and also the championship (3-1), the 17th in the history of Cibona after Yugoslavia split.
Former NCAA champion as a member of UConn Khalid El-Amin scored 16 points and emerged as the leader of the team. Former Michigan State center Goran Suton also had a great game with 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Still it was kind of a bitter victory for Cibona on Tuesday’s night. Runner up Cedevita will represent Croatia in the Euroleague, because of their successful season in Adriatic league, and the champions probably will have to search for a new coach with Repesa being ready to sign a contract with Spanish Unicaja Malaga (ed.note: just hours after the game it was officialy announced that Repesa is the coach of Malaga for next season).
In Turkey, Besiktas beat Anadolu Efes 81-55 (3-1) and needs one more win in order to be champions for the first time since 1975. David Hawkins with 23 points and 7 assist had a big night and the game was decided by half time, when Besiktas had the lead with 42-26.
In Belgium, the finals are tied at 2-2 after the 70-65 win of Charleroi against Oostende. Game 5 will be held at Oostende’s home court on Friday. Demond Mallet with 14 points was the top scorer for the winners.
In Serbia, the finals started with Partizan beating Crvena Zvezda 92-83. Partizan got the win because of its last quarter (28-20 partial score) and 23years old guard Dragan Milosavljevic stole the show with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Finally in France, Orleans tied (1-1) the semifinal series against Chalon with a 78-74 win. Veteran French forward Amara Sy with 19 points and American guard Cedric Banks with 17 and 10 rebounds were the leaders of Orleans.