Before the match, when the team’s players were already on the floor, a minute’s silence was held in the “Štark” arena to honor the people killed in the terrorist attack in Moscow.
Such a good one was done only in Belgrade, there was no honor in other Euroleague arenas.
In the first half, “Partizan” took the lead (22:13), but by the end of the first part of the match, the guests got closer – 17:22.
Olympiacos tied the score at 28-28 in the second quarter, but Partizan’s 12-2 run allowed them to build a double-digit deficit, which was softened by Nigel Williams-Goss’ two-pointer to make it 32-40.
After the big break, Partizan continued to stay in front, but now they had a double-digit lead, leading 59-46 with thirty minutes to play.
In the fourth quarter, Olympiacos showed its character and started to climb out of the hole: it did not miss a single point in 3 minutes, scored 12 points and got closer – 58:59. Although Frank Kaminsky scored two points (61-58), OLY scored 6 more points without answering and was already in front – 64-61.
The heated point-to-point battle reached its climax at the start of the last minute, when the score was still tied. Then Moustapha Fallas charged from the top (71:69), and “Partizan” even repeated inaccurate shots three times during its attack, but was never able to equalize the result. Stopped by a foul, N. Williams-Goss threw penalties (73:69), Kevin Punter missed a three-pointer and OLY kept the victory in their hands.
I. Brazdeikis and Naz Mitrou-Long did not leave the bench. Partizan played without Zach LeDay, who returned from his father’s funeral but was not yet ready to play. Meanwhile, OLY won with a lackluster Alec Peters, who scored just 3 points and no assists in 14 minutes.
Partizan: Kevin Punter 19 (1/6 3-pointers, 5 rebounds), Frank Kaminsky 14 (8 rebounds, 5 rebounds), Bruno Caboclo 13 (8 rebounds), PJDozier 12 (9 rebounds ch.), Mateušas Ponitka 8 (7 rebounds ch.).
Olympiacos: Nigel Williams-Goss 17, Kostas Papanikolaou 13, Thomas Walkup 11, Isaiah Canaan 10.
