Last season’s runners-up snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a late run
Real Madrid edges Partizan, 89-91, moves closer to playoff berth

Real Madrid kept alive its hopes of squeezing into the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs with a last-gasp 89-91 win at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade after big man Walter Tavares sank a delightful turnaround floater on the buzzer.
Tavares was instrumental in Real’s win as he racked up 14 points and 6 boards, for the visitors, while Facundo Campazzo posted 12 points and 7 assists. Dzanan Musa paced Real with 15 points, Sergio Llull chipped in 13 and Mario Hezonja added 12 to underline a smooth team effort. Los Blancos improved to 20-24 with the win.
At the other end, big man Brandon Davies led all scorers on 22 points while Carlik Jones registered 15 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds for Partizan. Isaac Bonga netted 14 points and Aleksej Pokusevski poured in 12 for the home side.
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Real closed out its regular season campaign with a sixth successive win and its seventh in a row over Partizan after a late 4-15 run which silenced a fervent home crowd hoping for a winning farewell to a patchy season for the Serbian side, which finished the season with a 16-18 record.
Still, Real faces an anxious wait on the outcomes of Friday’s games as it needs either archrival FC Barcelona or Anadolu Efes Istanbul to lose their respective fixtures if the winner of a record 11 EuroLeague titles is to reach this season’s playoffs at the first time of asking.
Otherwise, Real will head into the postseason by entering the Play-In Showdown as it had earlier secured a top-10 finish, but Chus Mateo’s men will now surely be hoping for one of Friday’s two results to go their way.
Bonga and Davies got Partizan going as they scored 16 points between them in the first quarter to give the hosts a 24-22 advantage after the opening 10 minutes. Following a see-saw battle in the second quarter, Real was able to carve out a 46-48 lead at halftime on the back of 12 first-half points from Musa and dominance in the paint.
Real won the battle of the boards 21-16 in the opening 20 minutes but Partizan hit back with five 3-pointers in the third quarter as the unstoppable Davies sank 11 points to engineer a 74-65 lead ahead of the final 10 minutes.
Partizan, which has now lost six of its last even games, looked like breaking its jinx against Real after Davies buried another sweet shot from downtown to give the home team an 84-75 lead in the home stretch, with the home fans in full swing.
However, the Serbian side suffered the kind of late meltdown that has plagued Zeljko Obradovic’s outfit all season long and ultimately derailed its bid to reach the postseason for a second successive term.
The contest seemed to be heading for overtime after Jones hit a mid-range jumper off the dribble to level the score, 89-89, with two seconds left on the clock but Tavares then weaved his magic as he sank a delicious floater to send his teammates into raptures.