By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After committing suicide in Berlin against shorthanded ALBA, Milan turned things around and got the 88-81 road win over Partizan Mozzartbet.
Nikola Mirotic scored 19 points, Niccolo Mannion and Zach LeDay with 13 points each did their job, while Leandro Bolmaro added 11 points and the fact that Stefano Tonut was a late scratch in the roster didn’t bother anyone.
“We didn’t perform two days ago and to come here against a good team, always well coached and 20.000 people, and perform well is really encouraging and this is one sign of hope”, admitted coach Ettore Messina.
Sterling Brown and Brandon Davies scored 17 points each for Partizan, and Carlik Jones added 12 points, however, the hosts couldn’t close the game the right way.
As a result, Partizan is tied with ALBA Berlin and Virtus Bologna at the bottom of the standings with a 2-8 record, while Milan is in a better position with 4-6.
A balanced duel
Partizan closed the first half leading by four points (42-38), despite a 14-9 start by Milan.
Still, at the end of the first period, Partizan got the lead (22-19) and stretched it to 12 points (38-26), only for Milan to tie it all at 38 after a 12-0 run with Bolmaro and Mannion taking action.
Partizan managed to answer back with a quick 4-0 as Frank Ntilikina scored nine points in the first half.
Milan trimmed the lead of the hosts to one point (65-64) at the end of the third and it was obvious that the game would be decided on details.
With four minutes left in the game, Aleksej Pokusevski who scored in total nine points, gave Partizan the 76-75 lead.
It was the last time Milan was trailing. Giampaolo Ricci scored his first points in the game with a three to make the score 78-76 and started a 7-0 run that gave the Italians a six-point cushion (82-76).
Sterling Brown cut the lead to three (82-79), but Milan got up again by five (84-79) with Fabien Causeur scoring.
With 22 seconds left, Carlik Jones again made it a three-point game (84-81) and it was too late for Partizan with Milan finishing the game with 4/4 free throws.
Photo credit: EuroLeague