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It was a great game in quarterfinal of Kresimir Cosic Cup. Two fallen basketball giants have collided in front of 4500 fans in Kresimir Cosic Hall. In a great fan made atmosphere Ante Delas won the game for Zadar with a buzzer beater tip in, after the miss of Ivan Batur. The final result was 90-89.

However, only one name was ringing in the ears of every fan in the hall after the match – Goran Vrbanc. A truly historical performance for him (44 pts!! 9-12 for 3pt!!). Experienced guard Davor Kus had 25 for Cibona.

It was a true test for Zadar team, that showed how close are they to ABA League competitors. We have to say that Vrbanc will not be able to perform like this in every game and Zadar will have to work a lot more if they want to win teams like Zagreb and Cedevita.

The conclusion is that basketball is slowly coming back to Zadar. The fans are starting to recognize the work of coach Ales Pipan and sports director Branko Skroce with young domestic players, and if this continues on we could rightfully start to call Zadar – The City of Basketball once again.

On the other hand, Cibona should also look for young domestic players, rather than giving a lot of money for A BIG NOTHING to foreign players such as Barbour and Harper who were really disappointing during the most of this season.

Sime Taras & Matija Balovic are CroHoops.com correspondents from Zadar, Croatia

Dario Saric vs Andrei Kirilenko

17-yeard old Croatian phenom G/F Dario Saric (6’9”/Zagreb CO) has reached an agreement with his team Zagreb CO that he will be sent on a loan to Zadar for the remaining part of the Croatian A1 League regular season.

He and his father Predrag, reportedly unsatisfied with Dario’s playing time for Zagreb CO senior team, recently considered Zadar or Sibenik as potential destinations on Dario’s path to fully develop and prove his basketball stock.

Saric averaged 2.0 points and 4.5 boards in four Euroleague outings for Zagreb CO which currently has miserable 2-7 EL record. Zadar currently holds 2nd place in Croatian A1 League with 7-3 record and astonishing +120 point difference.

"Nocni Hakl" Streetball Tournament - U.S. Marines vs RTL TV (photo by CroHoops.com)

Remember the name: Mosa Fowiki. This is the name of the streetball squad from Zadar with international ambitions which showed flashes of brilliance on their way to 2011 “Nocni Hakl” streetball tournament title.

2011 “Nocni Hakl” final tournament took place on the Zagreb’s main square. In the final game of the competition Mosa Fowiki edged the local squad Natural Wealth.

Boze Milicevic (photo by ezadar.hr)

According to several sources ex-Cibona Zagreb GM Boze Milicevic, who should be taken responsible as a key figure in Cibona Zagreb recent financial collapse, has been spotted in BC Zadar’s offices just couple of days ago.

The day after Mr.Milicevic’s sighting, BC Zadar management confirmed that it finds interesting the possibility of acquiring SG Goran Vrbanc and F Barisa Krasic.

Knowning that Milicevic has a good relations with the above mentioned free agents, CroHoops.com Staff wonder if there is an basketball agent career in the making for the man who could end up behind the bars.

NEW HEAD COACH ALES PIPAN (ON THE LEFT)
photo by ezadar.hr

After Pino Grdovic left the team his place was taken by Slovenian expert Ales Pipan, the current Polish national team coach at the upcoming Eurobasket.

Pipan was born in 1959. In his rich career he led Slovenian national team in the period 2005-2009, Pivovarna Lasko, Polish Anwi, Slovenian Geoplin and Krka.

The new coach of KK Zadar will begin preparations with the team on August 15.

Tihomir Bujan (photo by zadarsport.com)

Ex-Zadar coach Tihomir Bujan took over as the head coach of the newest Croatian A1 League member Prigorje Financije Krizevci.

He replaced coach Viktor Jugo who was one of the key factors during Prigorje Financije Krizevci qualification run at Croatian A1 League membership.

Expert close to CroHoops.com marks this move as “significant upgrade for the team from Krizevci which can now start building it’s next season roster.”

CROATIAN LEAGUE MVP – LUKA ZORIC, ZAGREB CO
(photo by ezadar.hr)

Although Zagreb CO has recently been playing without their major season reinforcements, C Mario Kasun & G Alex Renfroe, it again managed to capitalize it’s interior presence and by winning Zadar 84:78 advance to Croatian A1 League Finals for the first time in it’s respectful history.

“Ants” were led by inside-outside punch of C Luka Zoric(22pts+7reb+5ast+3blk) & SG Kruno Simon(23pts+10reb), while the x-factor of the first game F/C Josh Heytvelt added 14 pts+9reb.

For Zadar it was SG Marko Car (26 points, 5 threes, 5 assists) & PF Brandon Brown (17pts+10reb) who made the game relatively close until the very end.

Zagreb CO is now awaiting for the winner of the heated local Cedevita vs Cibona semifinal series. Cedevita has the 1-0 lead.