Partizan bounces back to beat Bahcesehir
Partizan NIS Belgrade rebounded from a tough loss in Round 3 to fend off Bahcesehir Koleji Istanbul 76-82 on the road in the 7DAYS EuroCup. Codi Miller-McIntyre collected 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to lead Partizan, which improved to 2-2 in Group A after having suffered a 23-point defeat in Round 3 at UNICS Kazan. Eric Mika picked up 18 points and 6 rebounds and Nemanja Gordic chipped in 7 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists in the win. EuroCup debutant Bahcesehir is still looking for its first victory, dropping to 0-4 despite Erick Green tallying 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 8 fouls drawn for an index rating of 30. Jamal Jones and Burak Yildizli both added 16 points in the loss.
After Miller-McIntyre scored the opening basket for the visitors, Bahcesehir got 5 points from Jones in opening a 9-6 lead. The hosts were held scoreless for 2 minutes and Mika tallied 4 points in a 0-9 spurt to move Partizan ahead 9-15. Rade Zagorac added a three-pointer and Partizan led 17-24 after 10 minutes. A Gordic triple and two Mika baskets gave Partizan a 12-point lead. After another Mika score made it 24-35 before Bahcesehir put together a 13-1 run over 5 minutes thanks to 7 points from Jones. Green giving the hosts a 37-36 edge and his floater at the buzzer had Bahcesehir ahead 39-38 at the break.
Bahcesehir continued to score regularly in the second half with Green’s three-pointer making it 46-41. Partizan stuck close thanks to triples from Nemanja Dangubic and Marcus Paige. Mika continued his strong game with the final 4 points of the third quarter as Partizan led 56-59 after 30 minutes. Bahcesehir failed to score in the first 2 minutes of the fourth quarter and Partizan built its lead to 6. Peyton Aldridge followed with 5 points and Erkan Yilmaz’s putback dunk knotted the game at 65-65 midway through the fourth quarter. Miller-McIntyre responded with a three-pointer and layup and the lead was extended to 68-75. Hadi Ozdemir trimmed the deficit to 72-75 with a dunk only to see Miller-McIntyre drain a triple with 66 seconds left. Partizan struggled to put the game away with a pair of turnovers and Green putting back a missed layup to pull within 76-78 with 30 seconds to play. Miller-McIntyre delivered again with a layup off the glass with 8.2 seconds remaining to re-establish a 4-point lead. He then stole the inbounds pass after the timeout to secure the win.
Bahcesehir missing Perez
Bahcesehir was missing one of the best players in the EuroCup as Alex Perez did not play with an injury. The guard averaged 17.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals in the first three games of the season. Bahcesehir was also without big man Josh Owens, who has only played the first game of the season.
Pivotal performer
Codi Miller-McIntyre was outstanding for Partizan, gathering a career-high 22 points on 6-of-8 two-point shooting, 3-of-3 on three-pointers and also hitting his only free throw attempt. He added 7 rebounds and 2 steals for a career-high index rating of 28.
Telling numbers
Bahcesehir had a nightmare performance from the outside, hitting just 3 of 22 three-pointers (13.6%). That negated the home side committing only 9 turnovers, compared to 15 for Partizan. Partizan was able to take advantage of its offensive rebounds with 23 second-chance points, while Bahcesehir had 14.
Next games
After two straight home games, Bahcesehir heads back on the road for its next game and will play at Umana Reyer Venice on Wednesday, October 28. Partizan will return home for Round 5 and host EuroCup newcomer JL Bourg the same night.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Eurocupbasketball.com