First win for Venice

Umana Reyer Venice picked up its first victory at the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT by knocking off Partizan Belgrade 78-71 in Group B. Leonardo Tote collected 24 points, four rebounds and six blocks and both Riccardo Visconti and Riccardo Bolpin scored 12 points as Venice improved to 1-2 in the group. Partizan was playing without two of its top stars in Slobodan Jovanovic and Milos Glisic. Strahinja Stanisic paced Partizan with 19 points while Dusan Antic had 13 points and Nikola Tanaskovic scored 12 in the loss, which dropped Partizan to 2-1.

Antic started the scoring for Partizan and Alessandro Simioni’s three-point play had Venic up 3-2 early. The lead changed hands with next five scores until Antic’s layup to make it 8-9. It was 8-11 after Stanisic’s basket and a Stanisic three-ball had Partizan up 10-16. The Belgrade team continued to play well and led 12-20 after a Luka Sljukic layup. Tote nailed his second three-pointer to cut into the gap, but four Tanaskovic foul shots had Partizan ahead 15-24. The margin was 19-24 after 10 minutes. Sljukic opened the second quarter with a three-pointer for a 19-27 lead and the gap was 23-29 after a Filip Anicic basket. Venice responded with the next seven points to move ahead 30-29. Stanisic temporarily gave Partizan back the lead 30-31 but the Italians were motivated with Tote nailing his fourth straight three-ball and hitting a layup as well for a 37-33 cushion. Sljukic responded with a three-point play and a triple to even the game at 39-39. Venice was able to go into the break ahead 46-40 after a three-ball and two free throws from Visconti.

Simioni opened the second half with a basket and Lorenzo Ambrosin’s score gave Venice its first double-digit lead 52-42. A three-point play by Visconti upped the margin to 57-46. Tote and Bolpin added baskets as the advantage increased to 61-47. Partizan was able to cut the deficit to 63-52 after 30 minutes. The Belgrade side tried to get back into the game with Mladen Armus scoring to make it 67-58. Venice continued to come up with answers including Bolpin pushing the margin to 72-60 and Tote making it 74-62. Partizan did not give up without a fight with an Antic three-ball trimming the gap to 78-71 with 1:05 minutes left. But there was not enough time to mount a final comeback and Venice celebrated the win.