Nikolic poured in a career high 23 points to help Reyer win its third straight game
Stefan Nikolic's career night, defense carries Reyer past Cluj
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 13 of 18
Regular Season
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Umana Reyer VeniceURV
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U-BT Cluj-NapocaUBT
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Overview
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Umana Reyer Venice once again defended its home court in grabbing a crucial victory over U-BT Cluj-Napoca in the fight for the playoffs, thanks to Stefan Nikolic’s career night.
Nikolic poured in a personal-best 23 points to lead a Reyer team that slowed down the BKT EuroCup’s number one offense with a 90-83 win for a three-game winning streak and the head-to-head tiebreaker over Cluj.
Cluj won the first game against Reyer at home 103-102, but Reyerin ahead in the standings as both sides have 7-6 records in Group A. Reyer remained a powerhouse at home with a 5-1 record at the Palasport Taliercio.
“I cannot be more happy. I give credit to everyone on the roster for what they did tonight, playing good defense. At the end of the game, we made so many mistakes and they scored more than in the first three quarters. But this is the best offensive team in the EuroCup and it’s not easy to keep them under 80 points,” Reyer coach Neven Spahija said afterwards.
Reyer’s defense stood strong for 30 minutes, giving up only 52 points and Cluj’s lowest scoring game this season in the EuroCup was 72 points in Round 10 at Bahcesehir College Istanbul.
The man of the hour was Nikolic, who had another big game as Reyer looked for other offensive weapons to make up for the absences of Jordan Parks and Ky Bowman, who are the third and fourth top scorers for the team.
“I feel great. This was an amazing win. We needed this one so much to feel the confidence again in the EuroCup,” said Nikolic, who had scored 14 points in Round 12 to set a career-high.
The 28-year-old also joked afterwards about being thrust into the spotlight, saying: “I understand how Kyle Wiltjer feels now. It’s hard to score this much and I respect his job even more now.”
RJ Cole added 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists and Chris Horton chipped in 11 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks in the win.
Reyer took a 10-point lead early in the second quarter and led 41-34 at the break. Cluj was only down 48-44 when the hosts went on a 13-5 surge to establish a 12-point cushion.
Reyer looked in control and held a 15-point cushion (80-65) with 3:31 minutes to go. Cluj’s offensive firepower flashed one last time and got the deficit to 81-74 when Alessandro Lever drained a three-pointer with 76 seconds to make it a 10-point lead.
Cluj could only trim it to 5 points in the waning seconds as Reyer held on.
“It was tough until the end. We had to stay calm. They were so aggressive but we managed the game in the end,” added Nikolic.
Cluj came into the game with a six-game winning streak, including the last two in the EuroCup. But Mihai Silvasan’s team shot only 46 percent on two-pointers and only could force Reyer into 10 turnovers.
Trey Woodbury and Mitch Creek both scored 18 points and Dusan Miletic tallied 16 points with 9 rebounds, while the league’s leading scorer Fatts Russell was held to just 9 points - 13.1 below his average.
“Our mindset needs to be different. We didn’t start the game with the right mindset. We weren’t ready to give everything we had in order to win this game,” Silvasan said.
“We had good moments in some parts, but we didn’t have the mindset we wanted to have - and that is a champion’s mindset. We didn’t have that. It’s not about how good or bad you are a night regarding shooting, it’s about what you do from the effort point of view. And we didn’t have that at our maximum tonight.”
