By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Partizan Belgrade beat Valencia 72 – 67 on the road to register its fifth straight EuroLeague win and climb to a 9 – 6 record. A couple of days after their big away victory over Olympiacos, the Taronja suffered their seventh loss over 15 games.
James Nunnally dropped 14 points for Partizan while making a key steal to run in transition and scoring for 71 – 65 with 27 seconds remaining.
Zach LeDay had 14 points – all of them in the second half while Kevin Punter added 13 points, including a key triple to put his team up 67 – 61, and a career-high nine rebounds.
“My team needed me. I had to make some adjustments in comparison to what I was doing in the first half and I’m glad I was able to help my team win,” said LeDay.
“We proved that we can win in a low-scoring game,” he commented on the defensive battle against Valencia.
Chris Jones (14 points) and Kassius Robertson (12 points) scored in double figures from Valencia. Their team was up 33 – 32 at halftime but Partizan was overpowering after the break to take a 44 55 lead early in the fourth period.
Fighting fire with fire
Valencia approached by a shooting distance down the stretch multiple times but Partizan responded in every situation to retain its advantage.
“This was the way to win the game. To play hard the way Valencia plays,” Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic said. “It was a tough game that was decided in the last minutes. We played smart and James played an incredible defense to steal the ball.”
“Some stupid turnovers,” Valencia coach Alex Mumbru commented on what went wrong for his team. “In the second part, we missed layups when the game was close. it’s difficult to win when you lose this kind of shots. We will keep fighting now against Virtus.”
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net