The home team dominated the fourth quarter to claim the win
Partizan powers past Olympiacos, 78-70
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade grabbed its second straight victory by defeating Olympiacos Piraeus 78-70 at Belgrade Arena in Round 12 on Thursday night. The hosts outscored the Reds 28-13 in the fourth quarter, where Brandon Davies stepped up big to seal the victory. With this win, Partizan improved to 4-8, while, Olympiacos saw its six-game winning streak come to an end and dropped to 8-4.
Carlik Jones paced Partizan with 15 points, Iffe Lundberg recorded 13, Davies scored 12 and Vanja Marinkovic added 10. For Olympiacos, Fournier led all scorers with 16, Nikola Milutinov netted 13 and Alec Peters had 12 in a losing effort.
Game Videos
Olympiacos started strong, as Luca Vildoza opened the game with a buzzer-beating triple before Fournier nailed one of his own, with Moustapha Fall slamming home a dunk for an early 0-8 lead. Davies drilled a triple following a Partizan timeout, but Peters and Fall scored from inside to make it 3-12. Thomas Walkup and Isaac Bonga traded triples before the former and Fournier nailed one each from deep to extend Olympiacos’s lead to 8-21. Then, Lundberg netted an open layup and Marinkovic nailed a triple that trimmed the deficit to 16-25 after 10 minutes.
Lundberg and Milutinov exchanged buckets to open the second quarter before the latter netted inside after picking up an offensive rebound for an 18-29 lead. After Bonga sank another triple, a jumper from Frank Ntilikina brought Partizan within 23-29. Kostas Papanikolaou responded with a triple, but Balsa Koprivica nailed back-to-back slams and Carlik Jones scored inside to cut the difference to 31-33. A put-back dunk from Koprivica put Partizan in front for the first time before a couple of free throws from Lundberg allowed the hosts to take a 38-36 lead into the second half.
A buzzer-beating jumper from Vildoza was followed by a bucket from Carlik Jones before Fall and Vildoza completed a three-point play each to put Olympiacos ahead, 40-44. Then, Lundberg sank a corner triple, but Fournier netted a layup before setting up Peters for another three-point play, 43-49. Koprivica and Milutinov exchanged inside scores before Ntilikina sank a three-pointer to bring Partizan within 48-51. Olympiacos responded with a 0-6 run inspired by Peters, but nailed an open layup to cut the difference to 50-57 heading into the closing quarter.
Marinkovic opened the fourth with a triple, but Papanikolaou responded from deep to restore a 53-60 lead. Carlik Jones replied with 4 unanswered points. A triple from Davies and another one from Jones put Partizan back in front, 63-62. Partizan never looked back from that point as Lundberg and Davies drilled a midrange jumper each before a three-point dagger from Marinkovic gave Partizan a 70-63 lead. Then, Davies sank a step-back jumper, but a three-point play from Fournier cut the difference to 72-66. Tyrique Jones and Peters traded buckets in crunch time and a basket from Carlik Jones sealed it for Partizan.