22 April 2019 - Crvena Zvezda is the 2019 ABA League champion. The Serbian team blew out the Montenegrin side and defending champ Budućnost VOLI 97:54 in Game 5 of the Finals to win the series 3:2.

Apart from claiming the title for the fourth time in the history of the club, Crvena Zvezda also got a position in the 2019-2020 EuroLeague. Zvezda is back in the top-tier competition after losing the spot to Budućnost VOLI last season.

K.C. Rivers scored a game-high 21 points for the winning side that practically finished the game by halftime. The hosts overpowered their opponents 29:8 in the second quarter to reach 47:21 at halftime. Budućnost VOLI was unable to react and lost further ground, despite coach Jasmin Repeša’s pleas to his players to try and finish the game as best as possible.

Budućnost VOLI received a rude welcome in the arena that led to the game being delayed, although similar incidents had taken place in Game 3 in Podgorica in Podgorica.

Norris Cole commented on the hostile pregame atmosphere against his team with some statements to Eurohoops.

“That was the most unacceptable and unprofessional basketball environment. The ABA league should be ashamed of what happened tonight. They threw chairs, drinks, spit, fireworks, and other objects on to the court and their fans ran on the court disrupting our warmups to the point we had to leave the court. Totally unsafe and unacceptable. The game should not have been played. But they threatened we would forfeit the championship if we did not return to the court,” stressed out Cole.

When Budućnost VOLI players entered the court for their warmup session, various objects were hurled at them from the stands. The squad immediately turned back to return to the locker room.

“When our players set out to enter the arena, total hysteria and throwing all possible hard things happened: coins, phone batteries, stones, full bottles, broom parts, lighters, chairs. About 40 fans entered the court and came to the bench of Budućnost VOLI, they spit on and physically attacked our players. Cole, Earl Clark, and Nemanja Gordić, who was hit with a chair stolen by a fan,” reported the official statement of Budućnost VOLI.

“Podgorica fans did not run on the court during warms up. They did not touch any players. They did not throw any chairs or multiple soda cups on the court. And the ABA league stepped in to control it, but they did not step up to control the environment in Belgrade. Podgorica did not vandalize the playing court,” stated Cole regarding the similar incidents that took place in Game 3 in Podgorica and brought a sanction to Budućnost VOLI.

Boriša Simanić had a key output since he dropped his 10 points in 10 minutes (on perfect 3/3 f.g., 3/3 f.t. shooting) of the first half. The Serbian forward also had a couple of highlights, two days after being announced for the NBA Draft. Dejan Davidovac added 11 points for Zvezda that prevailed despite missing Stratos Perperoglou.

No Budućnost VOLI player scored in double figures. Norris Cole scored nine while projected lottery pick in the 2019 Draft Goga Bitadze had seven points in 16:36.

After the game, Billy Baron of Crvena Zvezda was named MVP of the ABA Liga playoffs.

Source: Eurohoops

One of the heroes of the victory against “Red Star” in the fourth match of the play-off finals Edwin Jackson knows what the guys from Podgorica can expect in Belgrade, but also considers that such matches are something special in the career of players.

The French national was great in the last duel against the club from Belgrade.

"First of all, after two matches in Belgrade, we had to look at ourselves and admit that we played badly. Still, we managed to react and to even the score. On Monday, it is important that we play for each point and try to win and gain placement in the European league, which is our main goal and which we deserve. The “best of three” match in Belgrade is something special in our careers. The audience will be crazy, but these are the moments that you live for," said Jackson.

The tiebreaker game for the title of the ABA league will be played on Monday in Belgrade at 7 p.m.

Text by CdM/Dan, on April 21st 2019, read more at CdM

Brewery "Trebjesa" and Niksicko Beer extended the sponsorship agreement with the Montenegrin Football Association, which has continued its long-standing support to the development of Montenegrin football.

A two-year sponsorship contract was signed by the Executive Director of "Trebjesa" Sanja Calasan and the President of the Montenegrin Football Association Dejan Savicevic.

"Today, with the signed sponsorship, we continue to support the Football Association and the National Team, as well as our company's investments in the development and popularization of the sport in Montenegro. The brewery "Trebjesa" supports different sports groups, both smaller as well as those at the national level," said Sanja Calasan, Executive Director of the brewery " Trebjesa".

"In addition to supporting the Football Association, we also prepared several activities for lovers of the most important sport in the world. We as the sponsors, players, but also the entire football community share the same dream - placement in the upcoming European Championship. I hope that dream will be realized and celebrated - with Nikcicko Beer."

President of the Montenegrin Football Association Dejan Savicevic expressed his satisfaction in continuing the cooperation with Trebjesa.

"I am extremely pleased that today we have the opportunity to extend the cooperation agreement with one of the most important Montenegrin companies, which has been active for many years on the sports scene of our country. The Football Association has a trusted partner in Niksic brewery who is very pleased to participate in the development and promotion of sports, especially football. We are confident that the outstanding relationship between this company and the Football Alliance will last much longer than it is stipulated by the contract signed today and that the cooperation will be even more successful than in the previous years.”

Text by Promo, on April 18th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

April 15, 2019 - The Bay of Tivat was good for the final day of the 44Cup Porto Montenegro with three races held and the most worthy winner in Igor Lah's Team CEEREF. The Slovenian team led this first event of the 2019 44 Cup from the outset. Today, neither they nor Vladimir Prosikhin's team Nika won a race, but showed impeccable consistency, both enjoying a trio of podium place results, elevating team Nika from fourth to second overall.

Today's opening race went underway in light conditions, but eminently easy to race by the nimble RC44s. In this, Chris Bake's Aqua was winning and then team CEEREF ultimately finished ten boatlengths ahead.

"We missed doing another two of those," said Chris Bake. "It was a little shifty, but the boat was set up well. A big rotation of team members required work this week, but they seemed to be doing pretty well. The venue is magnificent - phenomenal infrastructure-wise."

On Thursday, Kirill Frolov on Bronenosec Sailing should have won the first race, holding a massive lead until their spinnaker exploded. The St Petersburg Yacht Club team made up for this in today's second race. After a giant split left and right up, they chose the favoured left and followed team CEEREF at the top mark. Then John Bassadone's Peninsula Petroleum took the right side of the run to claim the lead. Finally on the next upwind Bronenosec edged ahead, led at the top mark and on to the finish.

"If you are not in the hunt you can sail a freer race and everyone else isn't so worried about you," said tactician Cameron Dunn. "Overall we sailed our best day of the regatta. We felt like we made some nice improvements to our speed and generally got off the start line better."

It was the turn of Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing to win the third and what turned out to be the final race, held on a new axis course, the wind having veered to the west. In what tactician Michele Ivaldi admitted was their first good start of the week, the French RC44 won the pin but then tacked over to cross the fleet. They benefitted on the right side of the course to lead at the top mark. From there the French RC44 was never challenged.

"It was great day but it was hard all the way through - that is what is so great about this class," said Lepic. "For us it was great to be able to finish on a high. The team now is stable and very high quality and we are very pleased about our manoeuvres. We hope to get some better positions over the course of this season."

Team CEEREF's victory at the 44Cup Porto Montenegro was by seven points from second placed Team Nika, in turn two ahead of Team Aqua, with Peninsula Petroleum relegated to fourth after a disappointing final race. Incredible, even though Lah's team won the seasons in both 2016 and 2017 and came close last year, the 44Cup Porto Montenegro is their first event win since the World Championship in Sotogrande three years ago.

44Cup Porto Montenegro, Copyright: Studio Martinez

However Lah was most proud to have won with his son Tine on board. "I feel proud that he's sailed his first regatta and won it," he said. "We had great starts. Everything was in place like it should be, and the teamwork was okay, especially since we only had one day of practice. I was really surprised, because I had a feeling we weren't going to race at all and then we got in nine races – Montenegro has been brilliant."

Team CEEREF's British tactician Adrian Stead added: "We said today 'no matter how many races we have, just try and keep your nose clean and sail your own races'. But there were moments in all three races.

Igor's concentration - particularly in the tight stuff, when he needed to put a tight leebow on someone or to tack in front of someone, was very good at executing it. Plus we didn't have a bad start all week. I am really pleased with how the team is, given we have three new people.

Having Tine sailing with us is excellent. He is not very experienced, so it really made us think about our manoeuvres. By coaching him it makes you do your things in a slightly different way."

While the racing is over, tomorrow a Pro-Am race will be sailed on a long distance coastal course, the nine RC44 sailing more guests on board than usual.

From Montenegro, the RC44s head up the Adriatic to Rovinj, Croatia for their second event of the season, the Adris 44Cup over 29 May to 2 June.

14 April 2019 - Crvena Zvezda mts defeated Budućnost VOLI once again and have therefore doubled their lead in the 2019 ABA League Finals with the score of 107:69! This means that the red and whites need just one more win to dethrone the reigning champions and to return the precious trophy to Belgrade.

Game 2 was a one way street from the beginning to the end. Crvena Zvezda mts simply outplayed Budućnost VOLI in every single game element and the 38-point margin at the end shows how much better the home team was in this match.

The only bad thing for the Belgrade side was the injury of Stratos Perperoglou, who had to leave the court at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Crvena Zvezda mts started building their lead already in the opening quarter and the margin just kept growing and growing throughout the match. The home side was even up by 40 points at one moment.

The man of the match award belongs to Stratos Perperoglou. The Greek forward scored 17 points before he had to leave the court due to injury. He also missed only one shot during the entire game as he was 4/4 for 2 points and 3/4 for 3 points.

When it comes to Crvena Zvezda mts, this was as close as you can get to the perfect game. The red and whites were 25/30 for 2 pointers, 12/25 for 3-pointers, they had 26 rebounds, 20 assists, ten steals and only seven turnovers. For Budućnost VOLI, Nemanja Gordic scored 11 points along with six assists while Filip Barović and James Bell added ten points each.

Source: Aba League News

12 April 2019 - Crvena zvezda mts have made the first step towards achieving their desired goal – returning the ABA League trophy to their trophy cupboard. They have beaten Budućnost VOLI in Game 1 of the ABA League Finals and have taken a 1:0 lead in the series. In a game, that seemed to be able to go anybody’s way in the first half, the hosts dominated the court in the second part of the clash and deservedly took the lead in the Finals.

The third quarter was crucial for Crvena zvezda mts on their way towards the victory in the end. They won the third period of the game 20:10 and converted their 3-point lead at the halftime (45:42) to a 13-point lead after 30 minutes (65:52). This was enough for their victory, as Budućnost VOLI did not manage to bounce back in the final quarter.

Billy Baron demonstrated a fantastic performance, with which he led Crvena zvezda mts to the huge win over Budućnost VOLI. He ended the clash with game-high 19 points (4/4 for 3 points) while adding five assists, four rebounds, two steals and a valuation of 27 to his stats. He is our man of the match!

At the losing side American point guard, Norris Cole responded with 18 points and four assists and the other American import forward Coty Clarke scored 8 points and six rebounds. Both coaches used bench players which allowed the starters a little rest for the next games.