Borac Banja Luka did not need a runaway stretch to seize control. It won this one by applying pressure, taking care of the ball better and stacking possessions more cleanly than Radnicki Gorazde.
The result was an 87-82 road victory on October 4 at Sportska Dvorana Mirsad Huri, giving Borac a 1-0 series lead in the opening round of the Prvenstvo BiH playoffs. The final margin reflected the game’s central tension: Radnicki had the shooting efficiency to win, but Borac had the possession game.
Radnicki made 10 of 18 from 3-point range and 15 of 17 at the free-throw line. That level of shot-making usually travels deep into winning territory. But the home side committed 30 turnovers, nearly double Borac’s 17, and Borac turned that gap into the defining statistical edge of the night.
Borac’s pressure decided the game
The pre-game indicators pointed toward a matchup between Radnicki’s shot-making profile and Borac’s activity. That played out almost exactly.
Radnicki entered with a 55.6 percent mark from 3 and an 88.2 percent free-throw rate from its opening sample. Those strengths held up. The problem was that every clean look came with a cost elsewhere. Borac recorded 11 steals, compared with Radnicki’s five, and consistently disrupted the home team’s rhythm before possessions could settle.
Radnicki’s turnover rate had already been a flashing warning sign entering the game, with an average of 30 turnovers through its first analyzed contest. That number repeated here. Against a Borac team that came in averaging 11 steals, the matchup tilted toward the visitors’ defensive pressure.
Borac did not shoot the 3 well, finishing 6 of 21 from beyond the arc, but it compensated with volume inside the arc and a stronger overall floor game. The visitors shot 22 of 41 on field goals, added 17 assists and won the rebounding battle 26-24.
Quarter-by-quarter control
Radnicki opened with the sharper first punch, taking the first quarter 22-21. Borac answered immediately with a 21-16 second quarter, creating the separation that shaped the rest of the night.
From there, Borac’s scoring consistency became the story. The visitors scored 21, 21, 22 and 23 across the four quarters. Radnicki matched the fourth quarter 23-23 and stayed within reach, but never fully erased the damage from the second period.
That steady production mattered in a game without a major fatigue imbalance. Radnicki entered with 169 days of rest and no games in the previous seven days, while Borac had 136 days of rest and also no games in the previous seven days. With both teams fresh, execution carried more weight than legs.
Radnicki’s efficiency was not enough
The box score tells a strange story for Radnicki. The home team finished at 50 percent on field goals, 55.6 percent from 3 and 88.2 percent from the line. Those are winning shooting splits in most playoff settings.
But the shot profile was not enough to overcome the empty possessions. Radnicki had 15 assists against 30 turnovers, a ratio that left too much pressure on individual shot-making. A. Alikadic entered as the team’s leading scorer at 27 points per game, with Adzic Stefan at 18, and Radnicki’s offensive identity again leaned heavily on high-end efficiency rather than possession volume.
The issue was not a lack of creation. It was the inability to protect the creation. Borac’s defensive activity forced Radnicki into a game where every missed handle or rushed pass mattered more than every made 3.
Borac’s depth and balance travel
Borac arrived with a stronger CPI profile, ranked fifth with a 55.17 CPI compared with Radnicki’s 44.83 and sixth-place standing. That differential showed up in the way Borac absorbed Radnicki’s shooting and still controlled the game’s structure.
Dragojevic Boris entered as Borac’s top scorer at 22 points per game, supported by M. Tomasevic at 17, V. Stojic at 15 and N. Saric at 12. The visitors also had L. Jovicic’s rebounding presence after a 10-rebound opening sample. That balance gave Borac multiple ways to survive a road environment and a hot-shooting opponent.
The assist numbers also reflected the difference. Borac finished with 17 assists, two more than Radnicki, while committing 13 fewer turnovers. In a five-point game, that gap in offensive organization was decisive.
Series outlook
There were no significant injuries reported for either team, so this result reads less like a roster-availability swing and more like an early series identity marker.
Radnicki proved it can shoot well enough to stress Borac’s defense. But unless it cleans up the turnover problem, that efficiency may keep producing competitive losses rather than playoff wins. Borac, meanwhile, validated its pre-game edge in CPI, playoff experience and defensive disruption.
The series is still early, and this was not an elimination game. But Borac has already taken the most valuable thing available in Game 2: a road win, a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven matchup and a clear blueprint for how to keep Radnicki under pressure.