By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It wasn’t easy, even if Barcelona led by 23 points early in the second half but in the end, the Spanish side got the 87-79 win over Partizan Mozzart Bet with Kevin Punter killing his former team.
Barcelona’s star had 18 points, Jabari Parker added 17 and Alex Abrines had nine, including arguably the biggest shot of the game.
“All that matters is the win, no comment on the rest of the game, but they (Partizan) played a hell of a game, which we allowed”, said Parker after the final buzzer.
Carlik Jones scored 17 points for Partizan, however, it was not enough with Alexey Pokusevski adding 12. Vanja Marinkovic missed the game due to an injury.
Barcelona is now tied with Fenerbahce at 7-2 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings, while Partizan dropped to 2-7 in a tie between the 15th and the last position together with Virtus, ASVEL, and ALBA.
A thriller in the end
The first half started totally balanced with Partizan leading 23-19 after the first period and having a one-point advantage (32-31) after 15 minutes of action.
However, the remaining time until the end of the second period totally belonged to Barcelona with the guests having a furious 18-3 run and going into halftime with a 14-point cushion (49-35).
Jabari Parker with 13 points was leading the charge, as Barcelona got a crucial distance.
With the game totally changed, the guests continued their crescendo leading by 22 (59-37) to start the third period and then by 23 (65-42). Partizan managed to cut the lead to 12 points (70-58) in the end of the third quarter with Barcelona staying scoreless for three minutes and Carlik Jones reaching the 14-point mark.
Kevin Punter started the fourth period with a very tough shot (72-58), but Jones in the next play with a goal foul made it an 11-point game (72-61).
Still, Barcelona extended the lead to 76-61, Partizan reacted with 18-year-old Mitar Bosnjakovic scoring four straight points (76-65) and Duane Washington with his first three of the game trimmed the lead to 10 (78-68) with five minutes left.
After one more three by Frank Ntilikina (78-71), Partizan was suddenly just seven points away and Pokusevski again with a three got the Serbs into striking distance (78-74) with three minutes left.
With the game on the line, Ntilikina stole the ball, Iffe Lundberg got fouled and made two free throws (78-76).
Punter answered back (80-76) after a three-minute scoring drought by Barcelona. Lundberg got fouled on a three-pointer attempt and made it a one-point game (80-79).
With the game on the line and 70 seconds left, Alex Abrines made a huge three (83-79), Ntilikina missed, Punter scored (85-79) and the game was over.
Photo credit: EuroLeague