Partizan reaches final with a comfortable win

Partizan Belgrade booked its spot in the final of the ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT Belgrade qualifier with an 86- 63 victory over ALBA Berlin. Milos Glisic scored 23 points and had seven rebounds for Partizan, which will play the reigning ANGT champion Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade. A Partizan-Zvezda final is a repeat of the 2012 Belgrade ANGT title game, which Crvena Zvezda won 74-73. Strahinja Stanisic chipped in with 13 points and four assists and Nikola Tanaskovic added 11 points in the victory. ALBA, which will face the loser of the other semifinal in the game for third place, was paced by Moritz Wagner with 16 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks while Tim Schneider and Ferdinand Zykla both added 10 points.

Lars Lagerpusch and Zylka scored to give ALBA an 0-4 lead and another Lagerpusch basket had the German side up 2-6. Tanaskovic gave Partizan its first lead of the game at 7-6 and Slobodan Jovanovic drained a three-ball to make it 10-6. ALBA stayed focused and went back ahead 10-11 on a three-ball from Schneider. The lead changed hands four times until a Stanisic three-pointer for a 17-15 Partizan advantage. And that was the score after 10 minutes. ALBA’s game plan took a big hit when Lukas Wank picked up his third foul 13 seconds into the second quarter. Glisic scored four points and Partizan opened the quarter on a 6-0 run to move ahead 23-15. Glisic added a three-pointer and two more baskets as the margin grew to 33-16. Wagner stopped the 16-1 Partizan start to the quarter with a three-point play to make it 33-19. ALBA worked hard defensively to get back into the game, and two Wagner free throws cut the deficit to 33-21. Tanaskovic finally snapped a 4:33-minute scoreless stretch for Partizan and Tanaskovic’s next basket was followed by a Glisic score to put Partizan ahead 39-24 at intermission.

Wagner and Julius During started the second half scoring and ALBA trailed 41-28. But Tanaskovic and Dimitrije Spasojevic hit back-to-back baskets and the margin was 17 points again 45-28. Four Wagner free throws made it 47-32 but Jovanovic answered with a three-ball to make it 50-32. ALBA had one more fight back as Moses Poelking scored inside to cut the gap to 50-34. Zylka, who nailed seven three-pointers in ALBA’s final Group B game earlier in the day, finally hit his first three of the game and that was followed by a breakaway dunk by Poelking to make it 50-39. After a Partizan timeout, Glisic took over with a put-back-plus-free throw, a three-pointer and a steal and break away dunk to open a 58-39 lead. Mladen Armus added two free throws to make it 60-39 and the Belgrade side was up 60-41 after three quarters. Stanisic opened the final period with a jumper and Anthony Okao scored to make it 62-43. But Filip Anicic scored inside, Tanaskovic added a three-point play and Spasojevic added a basket to build a 69-43 advantage with less than seven minutes to play. Wank did knock down a three-ball to trim the margin to 67-46 and Schneider drained a long ball to make it 71-51 with five minutes to play. But ALBA would not get closer than that until Wagner’s layup for a 77-59 score with less than two minutes to play.