Crocs‘ comeback win hero Mirko Djeric to miss 36ers rematch with eye injury

TOWNSVILLE sharp-shooter Mirko Djeric shot down Adelaide in a stunning NBL comeback last month - but injury has ensured there won’t be a repeat peformance this Saturday.

Townsville crocs player Mirko Djeric, leaves the court after being injured during the match against Cairns Taipans, Convention Centre. PICTURE: JUSTIN BRIERTY

WITH a 15-point lead and less than four minutes to go, Adelaide last month managed to lose its road game to the Crocodiles - but as a rematch looms the architect of that famous turnaround is out.

Shooting guard Mirko Djeric, who buried three monster triples as the Crocodiles surged to a magical 101-100 victory, will be out for at least two weeks after sustaining a severe eye injury last round.

Djeric, who was enjoying a career-high 15-point game on 5-of-8 threes against Cairns, saw his shooting green light turn black with an accidental poke in the eye from Taipans guard Shaun Bruce.

“It was obviously an accident,” Djeric told the Townsville Bulletin.

“Shaun Bruce reached out to me afterwards and he’s a good mate anyway.

“I think it was two of his fingers just went deep and then up into my eye.

“I could just see black so I was freaking a bit because that’s one of my worst fears, a freak injury like that happening.

“I’m just happy I can see again.”

The spark Djeric provides - evident against the Taipans but even moreso as he spearheaded that extraordinary and memorable come-from-way-behind win over the 36ers - will be missing on Saturday when the 36ers hit Townsville.

The Sixers are chasing their fourth straight win, a sequence started against Townsville in Adelaide and followed by additional wins over championship contending Melbourne and New Zealand.

But Townsville itself was the “scene of the crime” when Adelaide led 96-81 on a Daniel Johnson three-pointer, forcing a Crocs time-out at 4:02.

Clint Steindl, Mitch Norton and Nick Kay scrapped to get the Crocs moving before the Djeric onslaught which brought the Swamp home crowd to full voice.

Turnovers, bad decisions, ill-conceived shots suddenly became the 36ers’ playbook, leading to the fateful turnover with 6.5 seconds left which opened the court for Kay’s winning dunk on the siren.

The 36ers have grown into a different team since then while Townsville is battling.

Djeric, still suffering from double-vision earlier this week and told by medics he’d been extremely lucky not to have his eyeball ruptured, will join injured back-up playmaker Corey Maynard on the sidelines as the Crocs again endeavour to repeat the impossible.

Originally published as Crocs‘ comeback win hero Mirko Djeric to miss 36ers rematch with eye injury