THE YOUNGEST IN LEAGUE, BUT THE BEST IN…

Basketball club Mega Bemax Basketball, with four consecutive victories, confirmed its best start in the ABA League since in 2013 for the first time played in the regional competition. The place at the head of the standings with a score of 4-0 gets even more important, bearing in mind that the average age of roster is 21.1 years, with which they are the youngest team in the league, and it should be emphasized that the most experienced player of the team Branislav Ratkovica (33 years) because of injury has not always debuted this season in the ABA league. The oldest player after him is Stefan Fundic, who in June turned 24 years.

The ways in which Mega have won games were different from the match to the match. Igokea was defeated in Laktasi after the big advantage of Mega, the home team’s attcakc was denied in the finish of the match. Mega beat FMP in Sremska Mitrovica very convincing, while one of the favorites of the competition, Cedevita was defeated in Zagreb, after the players of the coach Dejan Milojević played the best when it was most needed in the last quarter. Against Olimpija, Mega did not have good shooting day (40% for 2 and 21% for 3 points), in the 3rd quarter they were 13 points behind, but with a great defense (29 points received for the last 25 minutes) and without Bitadze and Charapic who got fifth personal foul in the finish of last quarter, eventually came to a reversal and a victory after the overtime.

Coach of Mega Bemax Dejan Milojevic pointed out that he was glad that the team showed character in these matches:

– This is one of the main impressions at the beginning of the season, the character my players showed in these four matches. We played the best when it was most needed. I do not like to single out the players by the performance, but I’m glad that more players came out at the key moments in the matches, which is a good indicator of the strength of our young team, that players are working well and ready to wait for their chance,

Milojevic said.

When we look at Mega Bemax team stats, we can notice the reasons for the great results of the team since Mega is at the top of all relevant statistical categories.

Dejan Milojevic’s team is the most effective team of the ABA league since they scored an average of 86.25 points per game. On the other hand, Mega conceided 72 points per match, and only Crvena zvezda mts and Buducnost VOLI received fewer points.

Mega is in rebounding most convincingly best ABA league team with a total of 43.5 rebounds per match, almost 6 more than the first next team, Petrol Olimpija. Also, Mega Bemax is the first in the league in the category of stolen balls with 9.25 steals per game, while in the assistants is second behind first ranked Crvena zvezda mts who had a total of 2 assists over, 85 in comparison to 83 of Mega.

Coach of Mega Bemax Dejan Milojevic pointed out that these statistical indicators were derived primarily from two things

– It is certain that we are looking forward to such things because they confirm our good parties on the ground, but I would like to emphasize that all this stems from our aggressive defense and good energy on the floor. This was best seen at the last match against Olimpija where the shot did not serve the most part of the match, but that thanks to the aggressive defense we finally resolved the match in our favor and came to victory which means a lot for the confidence of our young team,

Milojevic pointed out.

Individually, one of the best players in the league is the center of Mega Bemax Goga Bitadze. Currently, the 4th best player (by index rating) of the ABA league with an average of 21 index points, on the shooters list is 5th with 17.75 points per game, he is at the 1st place is on the list of the best rebounders with 9 rebounds on average and 5th is on the list of blockers with 1.75 blocks per match. Bitadze’s games at the beginning of the season confirmed that he will be the leader of this young team of Mega but also that Mega will be able to rely on other players, as shown by the start of the competition.

Basketball players of Mega Bemax will expect a match against Eurocup team, Mornar, on Sunday at 21:00 in Bar, when Dejan Milojevic’s players will try to reach the 5th consecutive win in the season, thus confirming the place at the top of the ABA league standings.

Photo: Mega Bemax/Ivica Veselinov