Cluj downs Cedevita 80-88 for first road win

U-BT Cluj-Napoca earned a critical victory in its fight to make the 7DAYS EuroCup Playoffs by knocking off Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana 80-88 for its first road win. In a battle of teams sitting outside the playoff zone coming into the game, Andrija Stipanovic, Kasey Shepherd and new addition Jalen Jones all scored 14 points for Cluj, which improved to 4-7 in Group A with its second victory over Cedevita. Yogi Ferrell scored 27 points and Alen Omic had 10 points and 14 rebounds but they were not enough for Cedevita, which fell to 2-9.
Cluj started hot with 3 triples for a 2-12 lead. The guests did not slow down to lead 5-18 as Cedevita head coach Jurica Golemac needed a second timeout. After seeing the score go to 9-24, Cedevita played better defense but was still down 15-24 after 10 minutes.
Marko Jeremic’s four-point play got the hosts within 24-32 only to see Cluj move back up to 26-41. Cedevita fought back and held Cluj scoreless for the final 5:36 minutes of the first half to get the gap down to 34-41 at the break.
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Cedevita continued the momentum and Ferrell’s triple tied the game 41-41. Karel Guzman’s three-pointer for Cluj ended the 15-0 run over 8:27 minutes and started a 0-8 spurt. The hosts raced back with 9 straight points on triples from Ferrell and Josh Adams to pull ahead 50-49. The lead switched hands five more times and Cluj was up 57-59 after 30 minutes.
Jones knocked down 2 triples early in the final quarter to help Cluj surge ahead 58-67. And a Shepherd layup made it a double-digit lead again 62-73 with under 5 minutes to play. Cedevita tried to get closer but only trimmed the deficit to 77-82 with 46 seconds to play. Lovro Gnjidic drained a long triple with 22 seconds left to trim it to 4 points but Patrick Richard and Nemanja Gordic both made free throws to finish it off.