Partizan survives battle with Cluj, sets up showdown with Zvezda

U18 Partizan NIS Belgrade needed a late run to survive a battle with U18 U-BT Cluj Napoca, winning 73-84 for a second victory in two games at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade. Marko Vukcevic scored 21 points for Partizan, which finally took control of the game with a 0-15 fourth quarter surge in the Group A game. Dordije Jovanovic tallied 16 points, Srdan Popovic had 12 points and 6 assists and Aleksa Milenkovic collected 11 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists in the victory. Partizan, the first-place team from this event last season, will next face city rival U18 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade with a spot in Sunday’s first-place game up for grabs. Cluj bounced back from a 36-point loss to Zvezda in its first-ever ANGT game to give Partizan a fight but could not pull through in the end. Vlad Marinau scored 16 points, David Lapuste had 12 points and Modibo Diaby added 10 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks in the defeat.

Partizan kept Cluj scoreless for the first 3 minutes and went ahead 0-7. Jovanovic added a three-pointer and Vukcevic scored four points and the lead was 4-16. Cluj finally got into the game with two Lapuste three-pointers in a 12-2 run to pull within 14-18 and it was 14-20 after 10 minutes. A Bogdan Zagradanin three-pointer pushed the advantage back to nine points at 18-27 and Ognjen Stankovic made it 25-35. Cluj finished the first half strong with Marian Schmidt and Marinau draining three-pointers to pull within 34-37 at the break.

The debutant kept its momentum early in the second half and Stefan Grasu evened the game and Alexandru Pasca’s triple put Cluj ahead 42-39. Partizan punched back with two three-pointers by Jovanovic and one each by Popovic and Efe Tahmaz for a 47-53 lead. Cluj was not impressed with Luca Nastrut and Lapuste hitting three-pointers in a 10-0 run to pull ahead 59-55. Popovic drained a three-quarters court heave at the buzzer to get Partizan within 59-58 after 30 minutes. Partizan took the lead back early in the fourth but lost it on a Lapuste three-pointer and Pasca made it 66-65. Cluj went scoreless for more than 4 minutes while Partizan came up with three triples and a three-point play in four possessions in a 0-15 run to blow the game open 66-80 with under 2 minutes to play.