Young Marinkovic leads Partizan to first win
Partizan NIS Belgrade earned its first victory of the Eurocup season by downing CSU Asesoft Ploiesti 76-69 in Group E. Partizan is still at the bottom of the table with a 1-4 record, while Asesoft dropped to 3-2. Partizan used a 14-1 run in the middle of the fourth quarter to comeback from a 6-point deficit and take the lead for good, 68-61. Vanja Marinkovic was the main scorer for the winners with 19 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting. Edo Muric added 14 points, Milan Macvan 12, while Nikola Milutinov amassed 10 points with 9 rebounds and Djordje Gagic 10 with 8 boards and 5 assists. Gerlad Lee and Dee brown scored 13 each for Asesoft, while Jonte Flowers and Dragan Labovic netted 10 apiece. Brown also dished 6 assists.
Marinkovic scored 5 in Partizan’s 7-0 opening run. Flowers soon tied the game at 7-7, but 7 more unanswered points from the home team, 5 of them from Muric re-established a 14-7 margin. A three-point-play completed by Macvan enlarged the difference to 21-12, but another 0-7 spurt allowed the visitors from Ploiesti to get close, 25-23, at the end of the first quarter. Brown scored to tie at 25-25 before Nikola Milutinov, from the foul line, put Partizan ahead. However, a 0-9 run by the visiting team, with triples by Marius Runkauskas and Jarvis Hayes, put them in front 32-36. Marinkovic bagged 5 points in a row before Milutinov kept Partizan ahead 43-38 at halftime.
Labovic from long distance to tie the game at 48-48 early in the third quarter. Brown hit another three for a 50-51 Asesoft advantage and Lee finished a break for a 3-point edge. Milenko Tepic scored form mid range for Partizan, but Flowers fixed a 54-58 cushion for the guests from three-point range at the end of the third quarter. Mohammed Alhaji gave the visitors a 54-60 advantage early in the last quarter, but Partizan used a 14-1 run highlighted by Muric, Macvan and Marinkovic to take a 68-61 lead with less than four minutes left in the game. Flower hit another triple to get within 70-67, but the immediate answer of Tepic from long distance ended the hopes of the visitors. Then Gagic and Luka Bogdanovic sealed the win from the foul line.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Eurocupbasketball.com