Partizan comes back to defeat Maccabi in OT

U18 Partizan NIS Belgrade mounted a major comeback to defeat U18 Maccabi Tel Aviv 88-101 in overtime and start its Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade with a win. Dordije Jovanovic poured in 36 points with 7 three-pointers to go with 10 rebounds for an index rating of 43 to lead Partizan, which trailed by 17 points late in the first half and by 11 points in the fourth quarter. Mihailo Petrovic added 24 points, Srdan Popovic scored 18 points and Vidan Dronak chipped in 11 points and 8 rebounds for Partizan in the Group A game. Partizan, which was playing without injured star Nikola Radovanovic, finished first in the ANGT Belgrade last season. Maccabi could not take advantage of 24 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists from Ido Menchel while Tomer Agmon had 16 points and Yuval Levin contributed 14 points and 9 rebounds in the loss.

Jovanovic picked up four early points to help Partizan jump ahead 5-6. After Levin nailed two three-pointers at the other end, Jovanovic picked up five more points for a 13-14 lead. Agmon countered with two triple as Maccabi went ahead 21-16 and was leading 24-21 after 10 minutes. Levin and Agmon both scored early in the second quarter as the margin grew to 31-23. Jovanovic tried to keep Partizan close with two three-pointers for 37-31. It was Menchel’s turn to take the scoring load for Maccabi with eight straight points for a 45-32 advantage and an Agmon triple made it 53-36 before heading into the break ahead 53-37.

Aleksa Milenkovic hit the first five points of the second half for the Serbian side and two scores by Petrovic helped trim the deficit to 57-50. An 11-4 surge had Maccabi leading 70-55, but Partizan did not allow a point the final 1:55 minutes of the third quarter and hit the final nine points to close within 70-64 after 30 minutes. Jonatian Guter and Menchel hit triples to start the fourth quarter and push the gap to 76-64. Another Menchel three-pointer had Maccabi up 81-70. But the Israeli side failed to score the final 6:44 minutes of regulation and Jovanovic hit twice from deep, including the second to even the game 81-81 with 2:15 minutes left to play. Neither team scored the rest of the way and the game went to overtime. Jovanovic opened the extra session with a triple and Levin hit two free throws to finally score again for Maccabi. But Jovanovic and Petrovic both hit from deep and the cushion swelled to 85-96, and Maccabi could not find an answer.