Partizan Belgrade (1-0) came out victorious at the start of the ABA League, downing Zadar (0-1) by 73-78 (21-21, 13-21, 20-18, 19-18).
As the final score implies, it was a hard-fought win for Zeljko Obradovic's squad, who made a successful comeback to his home country after almost 30 years.
Despite trailing for the most part, the Croatian team had several chances to claim something more out of the game, but Zach LeDay grabbed two consecutive offensive rebounds with a score of 73-74 for the visitors. Kevin Punter made a layup and then Zadar went scoreless in the final two minutes.
Kevin Punter and Dallas Moore were the winner's first scorers with 14 points apiece. Punter added 4 assists, in addition to the crucial basket near the end.
Trifunovic and Avramovic followed with 11 points each. Obradovic most certainly cannot be satisfied with Partizan's assist tally, which amounted to 12. On a more pleasant note, their turnovers were kept down to 11.
Zadar got 16 points from Domagoj Vukovic on 6 of 10 field goals and another 15 points from Antonio Jordano on 5/10 three-point shooting,
Zadar: Vukovic 16, Jordano 15, Lukovic 11, Carter 8, Bursac 8.
Partizan: Punter 14, Moore 14, Trifunovic 11, Avramovic 11, LeDay 10, Zagorac 8.
