Partizan pummels Trento

Partizan NIS Belgrade showed no mercy against visiting Dolomiti Energia Trento in recording a 97-65 blowout at Stark Arena on Wednesday night. The hosts ruled from the very beginning, opening the game with a 12-2 run that set the basis for an uncontested dominance all the way. Partizan improved to 7-2 on its quest for the Group A leadership, while Trento slipped to 1-8 with its fourth loss in a row. Kevin Punter and Dallas Moore led the winners with 17 points apiece on a combined 17-of-23 shooting. Yam Madar followed with 18 points on 4-of-6 on threes, while Uros Trifunovic and Alen Smailagic contributed 10 points apiece. Andrea Mezzanote was Trento’s top scorer with 15 points and Jordan Caroline, Diego Flaccadori and Jonathan Williams posted 14, 13 and 11 respectively.

Punter set the tone early for the hosts, as he scored 6 points of Partizan’s first 10 to set a 10-2 edge after less than 4 minutes. The visitors tried to stop such a quick bleeding with an urgent timeout, but Mathias Lessort made it a double-digit lead from the line soon after. Even though Caroline came to the rescue with a jumper, Trento was unable to chain together successful offenses. As such, Partizan found no trouble to keep increasing the margin through Moore and Punter. Smailagic joined the party with 4 points in a row to precede a buzzer-beating triple by Punter that closed the first quarter with Partizan dominating 27-8.

Flaccadori scored once the game resumed, but it didn’t change the trend. Madar answered with 8 points in a row, which included back-to-back threes, and Trifunovic added another of his own to make it 38-10. A 0-6 spark followed by the first triple of the night for the visitors helped Trento find its offensive momentum and avoid a harder punishment, reducing the disadvantage to 41-19 midway through the second quarter. Flaccadori and Caroline combined to try to keep the visitors alive, 45-26, but Moore showed up with a couple of long jumpers to allow Partizan to restore a solid 52-28 lead at halftime.

Punter and Lessort combined right after intermission to boost Partizan to a 28-point difference. The guests responded through the duo of Williams and Caroline, but Moore took over for the hosts to keep the visiting team far enough from considering a potential reaction, 64-39. Mezzanote showed up big from deep, as he drained back-to-back three pointers that forced a Partizan timeout when the difference went below the 20-point limit at 64-45. Williams and Mezzanote kept scoring from deep as the Partizan offense focused more on its frontcourt. A three-point play by Balsa Koprivica and free throws by Smailagic closed the third quarter with the hosts up 74-53.

Madar and Trifunovic took over for Partizan from the perimeter early in the final stanza making it 81-55 with 7 minutes remaining. With the outcome in no doubt, Partizan took advantage of that to rotate some players while increasing the margin at the same time. It reached a peak of 32 points, 93-61, just 2 minutes before the end, and it stayed that way at the end thanks to a nasty dunk by Gregor Glas on the last play of the contest.

Partizan breaks the game early and fast

Partizan NIS Belgrade started the game at full throttle, proving from the very beginning it was not willing to give even a slim chance to think of a potential victory to its opponent. The hosts made all the two-pointers they attempted in the first 6 minutes for an 18-4 advantage that grew to 27-8 at the end of the first quarter. At that time, Partizan had recorded a performance index rating of 38 against Trento’s 0. 8 points by Yam Madar in a 10-0 run to start the second made it 38-10 and even more painful for the visitors, who never recovered.

Punter and Moore lead Partizan’s unstoppable backcourt

One of the reasons that explained why and how the home team managed to enjoy such a calm night against Dolomiti Energia Trento was its superiority on the perimeter. Even though playing less than 23 minutes each, Kevin Punter and Dallas Moore set the tone for their team with 17 points apiece – combining for 17 points in the first period. Their strong start paved the way for other backcourt teammates, like Yam Madar, as he took over in the second quarter with 10 points in a 6-minute span to finish the game with career-highs in scoring (18), three-pointers made (4) and PIR (18).

No rest for Trento’s short rotation

Dolomiti Energia Trento came into this game with several relevant absences, as Desonta Bradford, Cameron Reynolds and Wesley Saunders were not able to play. As such, the visitors were forced to limit their rotation to just 8 players, with Maximilian Ladurner and Lorenzo Dell’Anna playing just 9:35 and 5:29 respectively. A lack of fresh legs seemed to punish Trento hardly in the last period, when they were outscored 23-12 after winning the third 22-23 and losing the second by just 3 points, 25-22.