Partizan NIS (11-2) cruised past Zadar (4-10) 103-72 (21-16, 22-16, 27-23, 33-17) in Belgrade's Stark Arena in Belgrade.
The black and white of Belgrade are second only to ABA League leaders Crvena Zvezda, keeping their chances of claiming the top of the standings at the end of the regular season.
On the other hand, Zadar still have a lot of work to do in order to escape the danger zone near the bottom of the standings, where only Krka and Split have won fewer games so far.
Even though Partizan ended the first half with a double-digit advantage, Zadar started the second half very well and managed to cut the deficit to 7 points at the beginning of the third quarter. They remained relatively close until the 25th minute when the hosts went off on a 10-2 run that put them far ahead (65-49).
Big man Balsa Koprivica once again paced Partizan to the win with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block and 24 in PIR.
Rade Zagorac also logged the exact same numbers (17 points, 6 rebounds).
Reigning EuroCup champion and two-time All-EuroCup selection Mathias Lessort debuted with 11 points and 8 rebounds.
Rodions Kurucs, Alen Smailagic and Aleksa Avramovic were the other three Partizan players in double digits.
Partizan dominated the paint, outrebounding Zadar 31-22 and that’s what gave them the comfortable win in the end.
Partizan NIS: Rade Zagorac 17 (7/7 FG, 1/1 FT, 3 REB, 3 ST), Balsa Koprivica 17 (7/8 FG, 3/6 FT, 6 REB), Mathias Lessort 11 (5/7 FG, 1/2 FT, 8 REB), Rodions Kurucs 11 (4/6 FG, 1/1 FT, 2 REB), Alen Smailagic 10 (4/4 FG, 2/2 FT, 5 REB, 4 AST), Aleksa Avramovic 10 (5 AST).
Zadar: Tomislav Buljan 16 (7/12 FG, 2 REB, 2 ST), Justin Carter 14 (6/10 FG, 1/1 FT, 3 AST), Domagoj Vukovic 10 (4/5 FG, 2/2 FT).
Full game highlights:
Like what we are doing? Support us by becoming BN+ member.
