EUROCUP 98-99
GROUP D

1st round (22/09/98)
AEK Athens - Atomerömü Paks 66-59 (Hatsis 16, Andersen 11 - Visockas 16, Stumbrys 14, Lukminas 12, Boros 11)
Athens, behind locked doors - FIBA decision
Pivovarna Lasko - TeamWare ToPo Helsinki 92-79 (Goljovic 25 (4x3P), Becirovic 20 (5x3P), Lisica 17+12 rbs, Jurak 9, Dragsic 8, Hafnar 6, Kunc 4, Doncic 3 - Richardson 19 (3x3P), Bade 18 (5x3P), Lee 16, Pehkonen 8, Majala 4, Matinen 3, Marttinen 2, Hautala 2)
Pivovarna Lasko played first half-time very well. Specially 17-years old Sani Becirovic who in just 11 minutes take 18 points (3P 5/6!). It was brilliant night for Miljan Goljovic (2P 5/6, 3P 4/4). TeamWare ToPo has some big problems to start the engine and the young new players are not ready to take their position. ToPo is still missing their German bigman Dirk Rassloff, who is still in Germany in doctors test because of his heart. ToPo won anyway the second half by 8 points and made altogether 48 points - so looks like they are learning. In the whole game ToPo only had 20 rebounds.
Partizan Belgrade - KK Zagreb 76-64 (Brkic 6, Cubrilo 10, Stevanovic 6, Gilic 9, Varda 5, Tomasevic 10, Radosevic 18, Lukovski 12 - Tower 8, Sesar 20, Milacic 22, Maroney 11, Rimac 3).
Partizan was leading by 25 points and half-time ended 49-28. In the second half Zagreb managed to climb up to -4 but Partizan took control at the very end. Great performance in the 1st half from Partizan. In the second half everything turn around. Milacic was very good till the end when he lost two balls. Sesar scored 20 pts but his percentage was very low. Tomasevic had 8 rebounds.

2nd round (29/09/98)
TeamWare ToPo Helsinki - AEK Athens 71-76
(Richardson 29/13, Lee 7/7, Martinen 3/1, Hautala 0/5, Pehkonen 18/7, Matinen 5/1, Majala 1/2, Bade 8/3 - Koronios 7/2, Barlas 3/1, Arlauckas 21/7, Hatzis 14/3, Dikudis 0/2, Tsakalides 4/7, Pattersson16/5, Kakiouzis 11/2)
Referies: Lars Klaar(SWE), Igor Labedev (RUS)
30 minutes controling the game, was not enough for TeamWARE to beat AEK Athens in Saporta Cup game in Helsinki yesterday.
AEK players were bigger, stronger and wealthier than the opponent. The different that you know in the team budget ( TeamWARE 7 milj.FIM and AEK 100 milj,FIM) was not seen at the court. No time could AEK make the different to TeamWARE. The biggest moment for Finns were the 10 first minutes of the second half, when they were leading by 7 points. "May be we thought that that the game was over", says coach McCarthy. Louis Richardson was the key man when TeamWARE was running ahead. The only man to stop him for awhile was Ruben Pattersson. After ten minutes in the second half AEK was coming back. Joe Arlauckas , who made only 4 points in the first half was the main force to decrease the cap. He made 6 two point baskets in a roud alltogether 17 in the second half and the game was in their hand again.
TeamWARE made most of their shot from perimeter area or three pointers. The lack of stregth under the basket made it impossible to compete with much taller opponent. To take point in Saporta Cup they do need a strong inside man to help Richardson and captain Saku Pehkonen. Kurk Lee was not at his best he should score 15-20 point and Andre Bade could not hit his three point shots as he does in Finnish first division.
KK Zagreb - Pivovarna Lasko 78:80 (Milacic 24 (1x3P), Maroney 19+9 rbs, Sesar 12 (2x3P), Rimac 12 (4x3P), Tomasovic 8, Tower 3 - Hafnar 26 (3x3P), Lisica 19, Goljovic 13 (1x3P), Kunc 8, Becirovic 6, Dragsic 5 (1x3P), Doncic 3). FT: 19/22 - 19/24. 2P: 19/40 - 23/41. 3P: 7716, 5/11. RBS: 32 -18. Attendance: 700 .
Zagreb is 100 km away from Lasko, but Pivovarna first time in history (since 1969) played in Croatia. They lead almost all match and won. Slovenian team started with lead 28:13 (13.minute), and good was especially point-guard Hafnar with three points shoots and stollen balls. Then playmaker Dragsic (5 asists) go out and Zagreb come to 35:36. In second half-time Pivovarna continue very good. in 32.minute lead 66:54, but in last minute was just 78:75. Rimac scored for three points (4:6), but Pivovarna didn't miss free throws and won.
Partizan Zepter 92 - Paksi Automeromu 85 (Brkic 2, Cubrilo 19, Stevanovic 7, Gilic 5, Varda 4, Tomasevic 20, Radosevic 18, Lukovski 12 - Hencsey 4, Visockas 16, Gulyas 21, Meresz 11, Lukminas 16, Boros 11).
Partizan won its second game. In the first half Partizan was up by 16 points. Paksi came to -5 because of big oscilations in Partizan's performance. Robert Gulyas had more rebounds than all
Partizan centers combined. A good game by Atomeromu considering the famous opponent. Although it was only seven points at the end, it is very easy win for Partizan.

3rd round (6/10/98)
AEK Athens - Partizan Belgrade 71-62
TeamWare ToPo Helsinki - KK Zagreb 58-63 (Richardson 11/6, Lee 21/9, Marttinen 0/1, Hautala 2/6, Pehkonen 13/6, Matinen 4/6, Majala 4/2 Lee 21, Pahkonen 13, Richardson 11 - Miljkovic 2/3, Tomasovic 6/7, Perincic 17/9, Stojic 9/1, Milacic 15/5, Rimac 14/3, Perincic 17/9, Milacic 15/5, Rimac 14/3)
The surprise was big when Zagreb arrived to Helsinki at Harwall Arena. William Maroney (back problems), Chris Tower (knee problems) and superstar Josip Seras (also knee problem). 60 % of their first five players gone. Two of their Saporta Cup games Zagreb has played mostly with 6 players and now 3 of them cannot play. Coach McCarthy was expecting a very hard game anyway. TeamWARE has had problems in offensive end. The lack of an other big man can be seen in Saporta Cup so strongly. In international games you cannot play only with threepoint and perimeter shooting. Also defense need a strong inside man. The game it self started as it should tight but TeamWare all the time ahead, as you can read from scoring per minutes:
Kurk Lee was as he used to be - penetaring, tipping and making good shooting places to Sakari Pehkonen with his penetration. Defensivly he was a threat to young Zagreb guards. Till the 25th minutes the situation stayed that way. Next 7 minutes was nightmare to coach McCarthy. Zagreb defense did not change in any perticular way, but even Lucky Lady turned her back to TeamWARE offense. Easy lay ups were missed, good shooting places were not used, no offensive rebound were found. TeamWARE led the game when 25 minutes were played by 46-42 after 7 minutes the situation was 46-54. Next four minutes the Finns won 10-7 again, but the Zagreb kept the keys of the victory all the time in their hand. The biggist hand had at this time Damir Milacic, who made 12 points in these cursial minutes. Mostly peneterating - changing hand from right to left. Largest help he got from Ivan Perincic and Mario Stojic. Kurk Lee was better than before this season, Louis Richardson playd only first half in his level and Sakari Pehkonen did his job in Defense but offensively his value was 6. No one else gave help to really win the game and as Coach McCarthy said, "you cannot win the game in Saporta Cup with three players".
Atomerömü Paks - Pivovarna Lasko 73:84 (Visockas 10, Stumbrys 8, Gulyas 8, Meresz 11, Lukminas 17, Boros 12, Rajko 5, Molnar 4 - Doncic 8, Lisica 23, Goljovic 14, Hafnar 26, Becirovic 1, Dragsic 8, Kunc 5)
Pivovarna Lasko is still unbeaten and they played two matches as guests. Hungarian teams started with Gulyas' points and when they lead 18:12 came to the court Kunc who stopped Hungarian. Second half-time Slovenian started with partial result 9:0 (51:38) and in 32.minute lead 74:50. Point-guard Hafnar, playmaker Dragsic and center Lisica was the key men for easily victory.

4th round (13/10/98)
KK Zagreb - AEK Athens 62-79 (Rimac 17, Tower 14, Perincic 13, Milacic 11, Sesar 6, Stojic 1 - Arlauckas 20, Hatzis 13, Koronis 12, Paterson 8, Nikolaidis 6, Andersen 4, Kakiouzis 4). Attendance 1000.
Zagreb played without Maroney, AEK without Prelevic (both injured). Most important was start in second half-time when AEK stopped guard Milacic and Sesar and limited Rimac in 3P shots. They lead 61:48 and easily won.
Pivovarna Lasko - Partizan Belgrade 71:86 (Dragsic 15, Goljovic 14, Becirovic 14, Jurak 8, Doncic 8, Lisica 5+10 rbs - Tomasevic 21+10 rbs, Cubrilo 17, Brkic 16, Radosevic 14, Lukovski 13, Stevanovic 5)
FT: 25/17 - 18/11. 2P: 40/18 - 46/30. 3P: 16/6 - 11/5. RBS: 22- 23. Attendance 1800.
Pivovarna Lasko played without Hafnar (knee) and after partial result 10:0 lead almost all first half-time, but never more than 5 points (13:8). In second half-time Partizan with highest players easily won. In 24.minute was 46:46 in 28.minute 47:61 and with partial result 2:15 between 33. and 36.minute Yugoslav team lead 56:78.
TeamWARE - Paks 90-72 (Pehkonen 25/ 4, Richardson 23/ 5, Lee 14/10, Bade 10/ 2 , Matinen 7/ 1, Klinga 6/ 1 - Lukminas 27/5 , Visockas 16/7 , Gulyas 12/9)
5 min 15- 9 25 min 55-39
10 min 24-13 30 min 68-47
15 min 39-17 35 min 80-59
20 min 53-28 40 min 80-72
As you can see from the minutes of the game the beginning of the game was a shock for Hungarian team. Team WARE knew that a lost in this game would drop them of from playoffs. To get more "beachball" freedom to the court the team had made a contract with former star of the team Kari Pekka Klinga (35). His behavior in the lockerroom gave TeamWARE the spirit to start the hard game. Klinga came to the court when 11 minutes was played and putted in a three pointer as a signment to the game. The real stars of the game were Sakari Pehkonen and Kurk Lee. The tall (213 cm) Gulyas was trying to guard Pehkonen in the first half. TeamWARE putted Pehkonen to the top of the key in they slitting offense and Gulyas was always late to catch the three pointers Pehkonen shot- four in the first half - and when Gulyas was in time Pehkonen made a righthanded layup. Paks tryed also zone defense, but by that time coach McCarthy had Lee, Klinga and Bade at the same time on the court and the 1-2-2 zone was broken. Kurk Lee made his smaller guard run after him, the offense was spred and Lee ducked in to have an easy layup or power shot. TeamWARE's swiching defense also gave a lot of headache to Paks offense. The only way to score was to put the ball inside to Visockas or Gulyas and early second half Lukminas had his threepoint shot hot. To go to the playoffs TeamWARE has to win Paks also in Hungary and beat Zagreb in their home court.
Atomeromu continues their loosing streak. Topo played better in every aspect, even though they a bad period in the beginning of the second half. Atomeromu coach Rezak did not go with the team to Helsinki, but there is no statement from the club yet regarding the status of head coach Rezak.

5th round (20/10/98)
AEK Athens - Pivovarna Lasko 87-72
KK Zagreb - Atomerömü Paks 93-85
Partizan Belgrade - TeamWare ToPo Helsinki 95-81 (Brkic 18, Radosevic 15, Tomasevic 13 – Richardson 23, Matinen 19, Bade 14, Lee 8, Klinga 7, Pehkonen 4, Marttinen 4, Ylainen 2)
TeamWARE players looked like schoolboys under the basket when the big Belgrad players concored the painted area. The Finnish weapon has been the perimeter and three pointshots and under the basket battle has been given to bigger opponents. Scoring again 81 points should give you some kind of a chance to win the game, but this time the opponent was a size too big for TeamWARE defence and they were too many. Kari Hautala TeamWARE' defensive specialist was very early in fouls trouble and captain of the team Sakari Pehkonen hurted his back in 14th minute of the game could not come back. With Louis Richardson scoring TeamWARE stayed quite close for first 17 minutes, but after that there was only one winner at the court. There were no room for Richarson and young Matinen took his role making 17 points on second half. Question is will TeamWARE have a bigger and stronger players for Saporta Cup. Finland this team may do but the big wins abroad is not to come.

6th round (3/11/98)
Atomerömü Paks - AEK Athens 87-72 (Gulyas 22, Visockas 17, Meresz 14/6 - Arlauckas 22, Andersen 15, Prelevic 14/6)
Atomeromu played without their best player Lukminas. The hero of the game was Gulyas who got injured in the first half but returned to play after AEK took the lead in the 25. minute and then Atomeromu took the lead back again.
TeamWare ToPo Helsinki - Pivovarna Lasko 85-88 (Richardson 23, Lee 15, Pehkonen 14, Matinen 10, Bade 10, Hautala 7, Majala 6 - Lisica 23, Goljovic 22, Becirovic 16, Dragsic 12, Doncic 11, Jurak 1). Attendance: 3,300.
Pivovarna third time won as guest and is in second round. In the middle of first HT was 21:18 and with 3P (Goljovic, Dragsic) Slovenian team made parital result 16:2 (23:34). Then lead for 18 points (46:64), in 39.minute 66:75 and less then half minute before the end 77:84.
KK Zagreb - Partizan Belgrade 87-97, OT (Perincic 21, Rimac 19 (2p 2/3, 3p 5/8), Sesar 18 (2p 5/17), Milacic 14, Stojic 6, Tower 6, Tomasovic 3 - Cubrilo 23 (2p 7/10, 3p 3/3), Tomasevic 18 (2p 8/11)+12 rbs, Lukovski 16, Brkic 15, Vidacic 5, Stevanovic 4, Gilic 2).
Zagreb played without center (218 cm) Maroney who is still injured and won't play another one month.

7th round (10/11/98)
AEK Athens - TeamWare ToPo Helsinki 72-60 (Lee 21, Pehkonen 18, Richardson 7, Bade 6, Rassloff 4, Matinen 2, Marttinen 2 - )
The good start was not enough. Nobody was expecting TeamWARE to win their away game against AEK Athens and the good determined play in the first half was a cheerful surprise to everyone. Most of the first half was in Finnish control. In second half AEK got their shooting in right position and when the rebounds (37-20) were mostly taken care of the taller Greece the dark clouds were coming on top of the Finns. Dirk Rassloff and Jukka Matinen got five fouls and Sakari Pehkonen spread his ankle. The game was done. The good game in the first half promises something to TeamWARE's next two away games one in Zagreb and the important one against Paks in Hungary. The last game is against Belgrad at home. TeamWARE has to win two out of three in order to continue to playoffs.
Atomerömü Paks - Partizan Belgrade 64-84 (Gulyas 17, Visockas 17, Stumbrys 7/3 - Lukovski 19, Tomasevic 17, Radosevic 14/3)
Pivovarna Lasko - KK Zagreb 89-68 (Goljovic 31 (2p 8/8, 3p 1/4, ft 12/13), Lisica 15 (9 rbs, 5 as), Becirovic 14, Dragsic 13, Jurak 12 (2p 6/8), Doncic 2, Kunc 2 - Stojic 18, Tower 14, Rimac 11, Perincic 10, Milacic 6, Miljkovic 5, Tomasovic 4. 2P: 27/43 - 19/39. 3P: 6/16 - 6/15. FT: 17/22 - 12/14. RBS: 22 (13+9)- 15 (13+2).
Pivovarna played without Hafnar, Zagreb without Sesar (both injured). Slovenian team easily won with good game in second half-time. In 27.minute was 53:46 and in 36.minute 82:55.

8th round (17/11/98)
Partizan Belgrade - AEK Athens 87-82
KK Zagreb - TeamWare ToPo Helsinki 78-63
Pivovarna Lasko - Atomeromu 99:87 (Goljovic 21 (4x3p), Lisica 21+9 rbs (2p 8/9), Dragsic 19 (4x3p), Becirovic 18 (2x3P), Jurak 9, Kunc 4 - Gulyas 25+8 rbs (2p 11/12), Visockas 23 (2p 11/12, ft 1/1), Stumbrys 22 (2p 7/9, 3p 1/2 ft 5/5), Hencsey 6, Lukminas 4 (2p 1/6, 3p 0/2), Boros 3, Rajko 2). 2P: 24/37 - 33/46. 3P: 10/23 - 3/9. FT: 21/28 - 12/16. RBS: 20 (14+6) - 14 (12+2).
Pivovarna played without Hafnar and Doncic (both injured) and easily won. Two minutes before the half-time was 48:34 and then Hungary team made parital result 13:0. Pivovarna with 3P shoots lead 68:53 and in 38.minute 96:76. Most important was 10x3p, because Atomeromu had good percentage for 2P, especially Gulyas and Visockas (both 11/12). On match was Chicago Bulls' scout Ivica Dukan.

9th round (8/12/98)
AEK Athens - KK Zagreb 77-51 (Arlaukas 20, Kakiouzis 15 - Cesar 17, Rimac 10)
Partizan Belgrade - Pivovarna Lasko 89-68
Atomerömü Paks - TeamWare ToPo Helsinki 78-70

10th round (15/12/98)
Pivovarna Lasko - AEK Athens 93-71
Pivovarna Lasko revanged AEK for the defeat in Greece and beated them 93:71. With only 3 losts Pivovarna Lasko took second position in the group Therefore Lasko will in the 1/16 finals play against Polish Slask. Pivovarna controled the whole game. To the half-time, Lasko already had an advantage of 16 points. But as the game went on in the second half, Lasko´s advantage was being minimised from minute to minute. It stopped at +4 points for Pivovarna Lasko. At that moments Lasko made to much mistakes and allowed Arlauskas to made some easy baskets. But in the finish Lasko played better especially in the defence and brought the game to the easy victory. The best Lasko shooters were Miljan Goljovic and Mileta Lisica (both scored 18 points). Our second representor in Saporta cup Savinjski Hopsi lost in Bulgaria against Cerno more, although Stevic´s 21 and Jagodnik´s 20 points. They placed 3rd position in the group and will meet Turkish Turk Telekom in the 1/16 finals.
AEK lost by Pivovarna with 93-71 in Saporta Cup. Greek team did not manage to keep the difference below 15 points (the score in Athens was 87-72) and took the 3rd place in its group. Aris defeated Adverb by 2 (59-61) and finished 1st in its group. Liadelis scored 15.
Atomerömü Paks - KK Zagreb 77-62
(BOROS (15/6), LUKMINAS (15/6), VISOCKAS (15), Gulyás (22) - Milacsics (8), SZTOJICS (15), Maroney (10),Perincsics (10/6))
Atomeromu needed a 9 point win to qualify into 32/16 round. They had it in the 9th minute and then increased the lead.
TeamWare ToPo Helsinki - Partizan Belgrade 71-82