By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi was the host, but the game was played in Belgrade and Partizan eventually got the hard-fought 91-79 win.
The Serbs took advantage of familiar territory and the two teams are now sharing a 2-2 record in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Sterling Brown with 20 points was the top scorer of Partizan, Isaac Bonga had 14, Frank Ntilikina scored 12, and the duo of Iffe Lundberg (photo) and Carlik Jones scored 11 points each.
Duane Washington who returned from the NBA, in one of the craziest transfer stories in Europe, was in the active roster but didn’t play.
“We expected something like this, knowing they are a good offensive team, with mobile big men and guards who play one-on-one”, said Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic after the game.
However, as he added, controlling the rebounds was the key in the end: “We had significant problems with offensive rebounding, and when we started to control that, it was a different game. We need to believe in ourselves; this is the message after this game. Congratulations to the players”.
Levi Randolph scored 19 points for the losing side, Jaylen Hoard had 14, and newcomer Saben Lee who “killed” Efes two days ago, scored just five points.
A close contest
The two teams were close almost from wire to wire and the lead changes were constant. The first period ended with Partizan up by one (28-27), Maccabi got the 46-42 halftime lead and Partizan had a two-point advantage (66-64) entering the last quarter.
However in the last 10 minutes of action, not only Maccabi didn’t get back the lead, but for the first time, Partizan pushed the points difference to eight (83-75) after a goal-foul by Brown.
With two minutes left, Randolph trimmed the lead to six (83-77) and Maccabi couldn’t score after that. Partizan got a 12-point lead (89-77) and the game was over.
Photo credit: EuroLeague