BELGRADE, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Serbia's Red Star (Crvena Zvezda) beat BC Andorra 85-79 in the third round of basketball Eurocup regular season in front of 5,000 spectators at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade on Tuesday.
The Serbian league champions started the match in a dominant fashion, easily getting to a 6-point lead (10-4) after the first five minutes of the match, thanks to scoring of Mouhammad Faye and Maik Zirbes, before Andorra, the eighth-ranked team in last year's Spanish ACB league playoffs, managed to catch up with three consecutive three-pointers.
The visitors' hopes were brief as Red Star managed to interrupt their long scoring streak thanks to three-pointers and field goals by Ognjen Dobric, as well as the great passing and shooting play of Joe Ragland.
Finally, Andorra's defense was crushed by two consecutive three-pointers by Aleksa Radanov, and another by Ragland to make the half-time score 44-33. The third quarter started with another three-pointer by Ragland, while Faye made several consecutive defensive rebounds.
Still, Red Star's initial precision seemed to have faded, leaving the path to Andorra's recovery with a 10-0 series brought about on by the scoring of David Jelinek, John Shurna, Dylan Ennis and Oliver Stevic to take the score to 49-47.
The two teams entered the final quarter with just two points between them (60-58), with Red Star continuing to resist Andorra's dedicated attempts to achieve a turnaround. Thanks to amazing defense by Ojo, as well as contributions from Stratos Perperoglou and Billy Baron at key moments, the home team managed to keep their distance.
Ragland's three-pointer just one minute before the final whistle made the triumph seem secure, but Jelinek returned with a three pointer of his own, prolonging the uncertainty of the home fans for a little while longer. Ragland collected 24 points and 8 assists, followed by Faye (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Ojo (10 points).
Jelinek scored 18 points for Andorra and Shayne Whittington scored 13. The third consecutive victory for Red Star secures the first position in group A of the Eurocup for the Serbian team, while Andorra is now fifth. Red Star will play their next game against Brescia in Italy, while Andorra will host Ulm.
