By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Mathias Lessort scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Kevin Punter scored 19 points as Partizan Belgrade opened the new year in EuroLeague by beating Final Four contender AS Monaco 100 – 80. Zeljko Obradovic‘s players dominated the last quarter 31 – 12 to register their fourth straight EuroLeague win.
“I feel great,” Lessort said. After the match, he joined Partizan fans in song. “We have our fans out there, which is most important. We couldn’t have fun when we were losing, now we are winning, so it is easier to have fun when you win. It was a tight game and we found a way to close it out.”
The two teams went toe to toe after a balanced first half (48 – 47) until Partizan made an 11-0 run capped by two Lessort Buckets to go up 79 – 68 at the beginning of the fourth period. Danilo Andjusic and Dante Exum, who scored 10 out of his 11 points in the last eight minutes, helped Partizan retain a double-digit advantage that kept increasing in the last lap.
“Once again, a much-needed win against a good team like Monaco,” Punter said. “It was good to take care of our home court and get a much-needed win. We all had to keep playing. They kept scoring, we kept scoring and it was a matter of who was getting some stops.”
Monaco had recovered after a 26 – 15 start to even things out and take a 40 – 43 lead with three minutes to go for halftime. The visiting side kept the same offensive rhythm but suffered blackout in the beginning of the fourth quarter and fell behind, never to recover.
Elie Okobo had 17 points plus nine assists from Monaco but went 1-6 from beyond the arc. The Monegasque team was overall unable to make shots from range, finishing with 5-24, in large contrast with its opponents’ 15-26. Mike James also struggled and had nine points on 2-12 shots.
“It is not easy to explain,” Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic said. His team was once again without guard Jordan Loyd. “Of course, it didn’t happen for the first time. We didn’t have any control. We were walking in this [fourth] quarter without idea. We played without purpose. We have to fix it somehow.”
Yam Madar contributed 15 points to Partizan’s win and Danilo Andjusic scored 12 on 4-4 triples. “We talked at halftime that we needed to be more aggressive and I believe that we played really smart in the second half, using the quality that we have offensively, Zoc said. “Of course, congratulations to my players and this incredible crowd. Amazing.”