By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After beating Olympiacos, Partizan also prevailed over Panathinaikos Aktor with the final score of 91-73 proving that the Serbs are back for good.
Carlik Jones with 18 points and Sterling Brown with 17 led the charge, Tyrique Jones had a double-double (12 p. 10 r.) and Isaac Bonga added 13 points.
“We stayed aggressive on both ends of the floor, and more on the defensive end, that’s how you win games”, said Brown after the final buzzer.
Even coach Zeljko Obradovic admitted that he is proud of his players: “Of course I am proud. After a period when everything was bad for us, we are starting to play better”.
Kostas Sloukas with 15 points was the top scorer of Panathinaikos, while Kendrick Nunn scored 12 on 1/7 threes and got ejected frustrated just before the end of the game.
Mathias Lessort and Juancho Hernangomez scored 13 points each with the French center being welcomed by the fans of his former team.
Thanks to this result, Partizan now has a 6-8 record and still has a long way to climb, while Panathinaikos dropped to 8-6.
Partizan dominated the second half
After a tied first quarter at 20, Panathinaikos managed to get a 37-33 lead with Sloukas already scoring 10 points.
However, Partizan closed the first half with 11 unanswered points for a 44-37 lead as Vanja Marinkovic made three three-pointers for nine quick points.
The Serbs opened up the second half with two more threes, one by Isaac Bonga and one by Sterling Brown, to make the score 50-39.
Partizan extended their lead to 13 (52-39), shots from long range were not falling for the Greeks and at the end of the quarter the score was 64-49 in favor of the home side.
With one more three by Carlik Jones and a shot by Brandon Davies, Partizan got a 20-point lead and there was no coming back for Panathinaikos after that.
The best the Greeks did was trim the lead to 12 (79-67), only for Partizan to react with a 7-0 run (86-67) and close the game the right way.
Photo credit: EuroLeague