By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
Nemanja Nedovic scored 10 out of his 19 points in the fourth period as Crvena Zvezda defeated Partizan Belgrade 91 – 78 in Game 3 of the ABA League Finals to make the series score 2-1.
Nedovic led a major fourth-quarter push (29-19) by Zvezda that turned a close clash into a comfortable win. He scored seven points in a row to put Red Star up 75 – 65 and then hit three free throws as the hosts went ahead 80 – 71 with 3:45 to play.
Partizan collapsed during that stretch and eventually lost after winning the first Finals at home. Zeljko Obradovic’s players led 40 – 41 in the beginning of the second half and were close 62 – 59 at the beginning of the final quarter but then allowed 13 points in less than four minutes to fall behind by double figures, never managing to recover.
Dante Exum had 16 points for Partizan. Yam Madar scored 15 and Kevin Punter 12. Their team committed 17 turnovers against Zvezda’s six and didn’t manage to make the most out of its superior shooting (12-25 triples by Partizan vs. 7-25 by Zvezda).
Luka Mitrovic (16 points, seven rebounds), Filip Petrusev (16 points, five rebounds), Luca Vildoza (14 points, five assists, four steals) and Facu Campazzo (seven points, six assists) delivered key contributions to Zvezda’s win.