Zadar take revenge on Lugano

Lugano's basketballers made little of the first of their return leg Euroleague matches, as a journey to Croatia ended in a 118-79 revenge defeat by Zadar.

The canton Ticino side now stand in fifth out of six place in the league’s Group A, with only two victories to their name. They have been defeated four times.

The first leg match against Zadar had gone Lugano’s way, but only just. The Swiss won by just 75-74.

The outline of the final score in the return leg had been sketched by the end of the first half, the Croatian team leading 57-37. The gap was partly down to Lugano’s defensive errors, and their lack of effectiveness in attack.

They managed to hit home with just seven out of 23 two-point shots in the first half. Their record paled against that of Zadar’s Darko Krunic, who made four of his six three-pint shots, and Croatian international Jurica Ruzic, who had scored 15 points by half time.

Jumeil Rich was Lugano’s top scorer, with 26 points, but he managed just nine shots from a similar 26 attempts. Harold Mrazek was weak in attack, finding himself dominated by Krunic, who had notched up a total of 27 points by the final whistle.

Zadar’s game was far from fancy, but with a better record of shots on target they gave Lugano a lesson they would rather forget.

swissinfo with agencies