Partizan rallies past Reyer with 0-21 run
Partizan NIS Belgrade used a huge third quarter to race away with a resounding 59-79 win over Umana Reyer Venice in a rescheduled Round 7 game on Tuesday night. Partizan finished the regular season with a 6-4 record in fourth place of Group A, while already-eliminated Reyer ended with a 2-8 record in sixth place. Reyer led by double digits on several occasions in the first half and was up 38-27 early in the third quarter. That's when Partizan went on a 0-21 run behind Rashawn Thomas and Marcus Paige, turning a 9-point deficit into a 12-point lead, and the visitors never looked back as the lead reach as many as 22 points. Thomas led Partizan with 17 points, Ognjan Jaramaz scored 12 and Paige and Uros Trifunovic netted 11 apiece. Mitchell Watt was Reyer's top scorer with 21 points in the team's season finale.
Paige knocked down 2 triples in the early going but those were the only Partizan field goals in more than 8 minutes to open the game. Meanwhile, Andrea De Nicolao hit one from the outside and Isaac Fotu twice inside to put Reyer up. A jumper from Watt and a last-second three from Lorenzo D'Ercole made it 18-11 after 10 minutes. Watt's three-point play opened a 10-point margin at the start of the second quarter. The teams traded baskets with Reyer in control. Nemanja Dangubic had a three-point play for the visitors to get them within 30-26, but Jeremy Chappell hit a triple for the hosts and Reyer held a 33-27 edge at the break.
Austin Daye nailed a second-chance triple to help extend the margin to 38-27 at the start of the second half and after Nemanja Dangubic hit a three for the visitors, Bruno Cerella knocked down another triple for Reyer, helping make it 43-34. But Thomas fought inside to grab a pair of offensive boards and then strung together 7 points before Paige nailed a three-pointer and hit a floater to put Partizan up 43-46 with 2 minutes left in the third. The run did not stop there, as Ognjen Jaramaz and Thomas raced for fastbreak dunks before a triple from Uros Trifunovic opened a 43-55 lead. Stefano Tonut's jumper snapped a 0-21 run at the end of the third quarter and Chappell scored a basket-plus-foul in the fourth. But Codi Miller-McIntyre and Trifunovic each hit a three-pointer to keep Reyer at bay, 51-63. A three-pointer from Jaramaz opened a 53-68 cushion with 6 minutes left and the same player's three-point play made it 55-75 less than 3 minutes later, with the outcome already decided.
Key run
Partizan went on a third-quarter run of 21 unanswered points. The visitors scored on nine consecutive trips down the floor, turning a 9-point deficit (43-34) into a 12-point lead (43-55) in a span of just 3 minutes and 50 seconds.
Deciding third quarter
Partizan scored 27 points in the entire first half, but then torched Reyer with 28 points in the third quarter alone. The biggest difference was Partizan making shots from long range. After shooting 2 for 6 in the first half, Partizan made 6 of 8 three-point attempts in the third quarter.
Key stats
Partizan outrebounded the hosts 27-37. Reyer had just 3 turnovers in the first half, but finished with 16, the same as Partizan which committed 8 turnovers in the first quarter alone.
What is next?
Partizan will play in Group F of the Top 16, where it will face Boulogne Metropolitans 92, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and Dolomiti Energia Trento.
End of season
This game marked the end of 7DAYS EuroCup campaign for Reyer, which finished the regular season with six consecutive losses and a 2-8 record at the bottom of Group A.
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Eurocupbasketball.com