Coach Zeljko Obradovic's men got back to winning ways led by their versatile big man
Partizan leaned on Brandon Davies to dismiss plucky ALBA

Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade kept its bid to reach the Turkish Airline EuroLeague postseason on track with an 85-71 home win over ALBA Berlin after big man Brandon Davies produced arguably his best performance for the Serbian club.
Davies poured a game-high 22 points shooting 9 of 10 from the floor to lift Partizan after the team had suffered three successive defeats and made a poor start against ALBA, drawing rare jeers from the home crowd after falling behind 13-14 in the opening quarter.
The versatile Davis stepped up, knocking down a barrage of mid-range jumpers, coupled with a pair of threes and a spectacular slam dunk after a steal in front of a galvanized home crowd.
With many of Partizan’s big guns still struggling to find their best form after the February break, it was a timely and much-needed contribution from Davies and forward Isaac Bonga, who chipped in with 14 points and 6 boards in his second game back from a long injury layoff.
The result gave Partizan a lifeline win in the home straight of the regular season, a fact Davis acknowledged ahead of the Serbian side’s do-or-die road game at FC Bayern Munich on Thursday, with the stakes upped by the German team’s shock 101-102 win at Barcelona.
“It was important for us to get that win and build momentum,” Davies said in his postgame comments. “We’ve been in a rut before and we had to dig deep and get ourselves out of it, so that’s what we did tonight,” he added, referring to Partizan’s dreadful 2-8 start to the current campaign.
“In this business you’ve got to be able to learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward, so this is a step in the right direction. Our mindset is to win the next one.”
Playmaker Carlik Jones stepped up with 15 points and 9 assists, keeping the engine room running after a slow start as Partizan made only 4 of 15 shots from the floor in the first quarter. Donning a huge Partizan scarf around his neck, a present from the team’s fans after the final buzzer, Jones hailed the home faithful for trademark fervent support throughout the contest.
“It’s been a tough three games for us but they always come out to support us and I don’t know where we’d be without them,” said the South Sudanese point guard.
“It was hard to play defense and not score at the other end too in those three defeats. Defense wins championships but at the end of the day, you’ve also got to be able to score as well. It’s been tough but we tried to move on and we were able to get the win today.”