Dubai: Dubai Basketball suffered a narrow 86-84 defeat at the hands of Serbia’s FMP Soccerbet in a thrilling ABA League game that was decided in the last eight seconds.
Following the international break last weekend, Dubai went into the Round 10 clash at Belgrade’s Arena KK FMP, looking to build on their home win against KRKA.
However, they left Serbia with their third loss of the season after a nail-biting finish. With only two seconds remaining, Dubai had a chance to tie the game up at 86 apiece, but Nate Mason missed both free throw attempts to leave FMP the winners. The result means Dubai Basketball takes their record to 7-3 for the season.
While captain Klemen Prepelic finished as Dubai Basketball’s top scorer with 19 points, and Ahmet Duverioglu led the charts with eight rebounds, head coach Jurica Golemac felt his players left too many opportunities on the court. By the final buzzer, FMP outrebounded Dubai 30-20, including 8-2 on the offensive glass.
“We said before the start that we would have to respond to their great energy, which was at a high level after the change of coach for them, and that we had to take care of the rebounds, which we didn’t do. With a game like that, you can’t win on the road,” Golemac said.
“We are all disappointed but there are still a lot of games to be played during the season and we will continue working hard to get as many wins as possible.”
In a closely fought encounter, Dubai trailed by six points in the first quarter but found their rhythm to go into half-time with a 42-39 lead, with a now healthy Davis Bertans, playing in his first game since Round 7, among the point scorers.
Early in the third quarter, the visitors found themselves holding a 12-point lead (51-39) but FMP responded strongly to end the quarter at 62-61. In the final 10 minutes, Dubai’s Isaiah Taylor’s driving layup put his team in the lead at 82-84 with just 1:04 remaining; but FMP’s Jan Novak tied the game with a bucket with just under a minute left, before Rebec drove to the basket and made a decisive layup that ultimately sealed the victory for the home team.
Dubai will next be on the road when they take on Croatia’s Zadar on Friday, Dec. 6, before their highly anticipated return to the Coca-Cola Arena on Sunday, Dec. 15, when they face Mornar.
