By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Croatia overpowered Slovenia and got the 80-73 victory at home in Zagreb. After a perfect 9-0 record in the preparation games that included some high quality competition, the Croats opened their tournament on home soil in the perfect way.
Krunoslav Simon racked up 20 points (6 rebounds, 3 assists), making him his team’s leading scorer. Luka Zoric didn’t do so bad either, scoring 17 and collecting 4 rebounds. Mario Hezonja added another 13 plus 6 boards and an assist, Bojan Bogdanovic had 9 (2 rebounds), and the 21-year-old Dario Saric scored 8 but collected 7 rebounds and dished 2 assists as well.
The Slovenians had a good start and were actually leading by 6 at the end of the first quarter, but in the second their opponents fought back and claimed the lead. They tried to regain the lead in the fourth quarter but by then it was too late. For Zdovc’s team, Zoran Dragic, in the absence of his brother Goran, scored the most with 14 (4 rebounds, 3 assists). Jaka Blazic tallied 11 points, 6 boards and one assist, and Miha Zupan and Alen Omic got 10 points and 3 rebounds each.
After the game, Croatia’s coach Velimir Perasovic stated, “We started very nervous in this game and lost many balls and it is not easy to come back against a serious team like Slovenia. All games in European Championships will be the same – very tough, very difficult. The Greek team is a great team,” he added ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Greece. “It’s a very important game for both teams.”
“They played better,” coach Zdovc admitted. “We had our chances. Every time we wanted to do something we had stupid mistakes and our concentration went down. We missed some open shots and they hit some shots.” Ahead of tomorrow’s game against Georgia, he said, “We should play smarter and more disciplined. Maybe the gym was full and that cost more energy and emotion. But that was a weakness from before for us. We cannot make crazy drives inside. We improved that in the friendly games but we didn’t do that tonight.”