BARAĆ: “WE WERE UNABLE TO MATCH THE LEVEL OF CONTACT AND TOUGHNESS, WE WILL STRIVE TO BE BETTER”

Mega MIS basketball players entered the playoff semifinal series of the ABA League with nine consecutive victories in the regional competition, but they failed to continue the streak, as they were defeated by Crvena Zvezda with a score of 103:73 (27:20, 25:13, 26:22, 25:18) at the Aleksandar Nikolić Hall. Marko Barać’s team matched well against the much more experienced squad in the first quarter, but the hosts managed to pull away by halftime. Crvena Zvezda maintained a double-digit lead in the third quarter, and despite the absence of their injured captain, Uroš Plavšić, Mega MIS attempted to stage a comeback but failed to threaten the home team, who took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Mega MIS coach Marko Barać shared his impressions at the press conference after the match:

“I would like to congratulate Crvena Zvezda; they were simply better tonight, as the result shows. For my players, this is a new experience, playoff basketball, a level of contact and toughness that we were unable to match. This led to numerous problems, and throughout the game, we tried to catch up, but we didn’t succeed. We’ve had a few games this season where we didn’t perform well; it’s normal for that to happen. It happened tonight, and we will strive to be better and to be ready for everything that awaits us in the second game,” said Barać.

He also commented on another setback that befell the Mega MIS team after the injury to captain Uroš Plavšić, considering that during the second half of the match against Crvena Zvezda, Stefan Miljenović also got injured.

“It’s always difficult to give the first information. We’ll wait until tomorrow to see the situation; I wouldn’t want to speculate about it. A tough occurrence and another in a series of misfortunes that have been following us lately,” added Marko Barać.

The second game of the ABA League playoff semifinals is scheduled for Tuesday, May 7, at 8:00 PM, with Mega MIS hosting Crvena Zvezda at the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall. In case of a victory for Marko Barać’s team, the deciding game will be played on Friday, May 10, with Crvena Zvezda hosting at the Aleksandar Nikolić Hall.

Photo: Mega MIS/Ivica Veselinov