Partizan fends off Joventut rally

Partizan NIS Belgrade picked up an important victory in its fight for the Top 16 by fending off Joventut Badalona 78-75 in a makeup game from Round 6. Partizan nearly gave up a 14-point fourth-quarter lead, but held on to win and improve to 4-3 in Group A thanks to Nemanja Gordic's 16 points. Codi Miller-McIntyre added 13 points, Rashawn Thomas had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks and Nemanja Dangubic chipped in 10 points as Partizan won its second home game within 48 hours. Joventut was without Ante Tomic, Pau Ribas and Nenad Dimitrijevic and lost its second straight game to fall to 5-2. Shawn Dawson poured in 19 points and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui and Vladimir Brodziansky both scored 16 points for Joventut, which also got 7 points and 11 assists from Ferran Bassas.

Joventut had the stronger start to the game with Dawson hitting a three-pointer in opening a 2-7 lead. Two Miller-McIntyre scores evened the game 8-8 only to see Lopez-Arostegui hit a triple at the other end as Joventut went up 10-14. Partizan would tie the game again, but trailed 18-19 after 10 minutes. Partizan tallied the first 8 points of the second quarter, including a three-pointer from Marcus Paige and a Thomas three-point play for a 26-19 lead. Joventut needed more than 2 minutes to score until Dawson’s layup and Bassas added a triple to pull within 26-24. Partizan’s defense stopped Joventut and Gordic and Dangubic both had 4 points in a 13-7 run for a 39-31 lead. The gap was 41-33 at the break.

Lopez-Arostegui opened the second half with a three-pointer, but Rade Zagorac and Miller-McIntyre both hit from deep in an 8-0 Partizan run to move ahead 49-36. Albert Ventura’s three-pointer stopped the more than 4-minute Joventut rut and 4 Brodziansky foul shots helped get the deficit to 51-45. Paige and Gordic responded with three-pointers and Gordic scored the final 4 points of the quarter; Partizan led 63-49 after 30 minutes. Dawson opened the final frame with a three-pointer and after Gordic answered for a 66-52 advantage, he nailed another triple and added 4 more points to pull Joventut within 68-61. A Bassas triple had the guests down by just 70-64 with 4 minutes to play. Conor Morgan took over for Joventut with 6 straight points, including a three-pointer to cut the gap to 74-72. After a Partizan turnover, Bassas missed a three-pointer which Miller-McIntyre rebounded and raced down for a layup with 28 seconds left to move ahead 76-72. Brodziansky put pressure on the hosts with a hook shot, but Paige made 2 foul shots with 9.9 seconds remaining for a 78-74 lead. After Bassas missed a free throw with 8.2 seconds to play, Partizan had the win.

Third quarter shooting

Partizan struggled from the outside in the first half, making just 1 of 8 three-pointers. The Serbian side’s fortunes changed in the third quarter when it drained 4 of 9 three-point attempts to build a 14-point lead, which it was able to hold onto.

Pivotal performer

Nemanja Gordic showed his importance to the team once again. The 32-year-old, playing his ninth season in the EuroCup, collected 16 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists for an index rating of 21 in 18 minutes off the bench.

Telling numbers

Partizan was able to use its offensive rebounds, turning the 14 offensive boards into 14 second-chance points compared to just 6 points for Joventut. All told, Partizan grabbed 34 rebounds while Joventut had 24.

Next games

Joventut is next scheduled to play in the EuroCup in Round 9 on Tuesday, December 8 at Umana Reyer Venice. Partizan’s next game is the following evening at home against Bahcesehir Koleji Istanbul.