Bourg fends off Partizan on Scrubb's game-winner

JL Bourg en Bresse prevailed in a hard-fought battle at home 73-71 against Partizan NIS Belgrade with Thomas Scrubb’s putback at the buzzer deciding the showdown of teams already qualified for the Top 16. Danilo Andjusic paced Bourg with 16 points, but missed his three-pointer in the waning seconds which Scrubb rebounded and tossed in to take the French side's record to 6-3. Scrubb finished with 11 points, Pierre Pelos scored 12 points and Alen Omic picked up 10 points and 7 rebounds. Partizan had its three-game winning streak snapped despite Rashawn Thomas collecting 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks and Codi Miller-McIntyre adding 11 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Partizan dropped to 5-4.

Thomas opened the scoring for the visitors and Zach Peacock got the first points for Bourg. Kadeem Allen gave the hosts their first lead 4-3. After a Scrubb three-pointer made it 9-7, Rade Zagorac and Nemanja Dangubic scored for Partizan to even out Omic’s production for Bourg. Andjusic’s four-point play made it 21-20, but the home side did not score in the final 2:22 of the first quarter. Four straight points by Eric Mika had Partizan up 21-26 after 10 minutes. Marcus Paige started the second quarter with a three-pointer and Ognjen Jaramaz free throws extended the run to 0-11 for a 21-31 lead. Pelos's three-pointer snapped4-minuterly 4 minute scoreless drought and Maxime Courby also hit from deep. Jaramaz and Thomas answered from long range at the other end and Thomas's dunk had Partizan up 33-41. The home team failed to score for the final 2:35 minutes of the first half and Allen had 5 points to get Bourg within 40-41 at the break.

Mika got Partizan scoring right away to start the second half with a three-pointer. Peacock hit from deep at the other end and Omic’s inside score put Bourg up 49-48. Paige answered and Miller-McIntyre scored 4 points. Uros Trifunovic added a triple as Partizan went up 53-59. Luka Asceric countered with a three-pointer and it was 56-59 after 30 minutes. Neither team scored in the first 2 minutes of the final frame until Miller-McIntyre’s baseline jumper. Partizan couldn’t get any offense going while Andjusic scored 4 points in an 8-0 run over 3 minutes to put Bourg up 64-61. Pelos added a triple and it was 67-63 when Partizan surged back with Miller-McIntyre and Thomas draining back-to-back three-pointers for a 69-71 lead. Andjusic evened the game. After a Partizan miss in the waning seconds, Andjusic tried to win the game with a long three-pointer, but missed badly. Scrubb was there to grab it and put it back just before the final buzzer for the win.

Omic soars to second all-time in rebounds

Alen Omic jumped up the all-time rankings in two major categories with his showing of 10 points, 7 rebounds and an index rating of 16. He passed Vladimir Veremeenko and is now second in the all-time charts in rebounds with 614 rebounds. Only Bojan Dubljevic is ahead with 648 rebounds. Omic’s PIR of 16 allowed him to pass EJ Rowland for fifth place all-time with 1,386 index rating points - 3 more than Rowland.

Pivotal performer

Pierre Pelos continued his stretch of good games for Bourg with 12 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks - including 7 points in the fourth quarter. Pelos had 28 points against Partizan earlier this season and since that game has scored at least 11 points with at least 4 rebounds in each game.

Telling numbers

Bourg was outrebounded 41-26 and only shot 28.0% on three-pointers but the French side committed only 10 turnovers and forced 15 turnovers for Partizan.

Next games

Bourg still has one game left in the regular season and will travel to Spain to take on Joventut Badalona on Wednesday, December 30 in a Round 7 makeup game. Partizan also has a makeup game left to be played and will head to Italy to take on Umana Reyer Venice on December 29 in Round 7 action.