The Frenchman first helped Bayern stay in the game, before becoming the hero in the final seconds.
Sylvain Francisco stepped up big in second half to shock Partizan
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Regular Season
Round 26 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade’s defense did a great job containing Sylvain Francisco for 27 minutes. After all, the FC Bayern Munich guard had not managed to net a single field goal, having recorded just 1 point with 02:48 left on the clock in the third quarter.
One second later, Francisco would hit his first triple of the night, but it wouldn’t be his last.
“It was really tough, especially with this atmosphere,” Francisco said in the flash interview after the game. “I was trying to find the right balance. I was really quiet in the first half, but in the second half every time they gave me a little opportunity, I took this opportunity.”
He helped swing the momentum
Before hitting that shot, Partizan was up by 61-51. Yet, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague rookie would go on to make a couple of free throws before drilling another shot from deep to cut the difference to 63-59 heading into the closing quarter.
Then, the two teams’ defenses tightened up and they went scoreless for the first 2:30 minutes of the fourth quarter. In fact, Partizan and Bayern had scored just 3 points each with 6 minutes remaining, but when it mattered most, veteran Serge Ibaka and Francisco combined for 17 points to lead Bayern to a 78-79 victory.
Ibaka ended up netting 6 of his 14 points in the last quarter while Francisco added 11 points to stun the hosts.
Becoming the hero
Following a missed Kevin Punter triple with the score at 78-76 and 19 seconds to go, Nick Weiler-Babb collected the defensive rebound and handed the ball to the safe hands of Francisco.
“To be honest, I wanted to drive to get it overtime first, but [Partizan center Frank] Kaminsky anticipated my drives so as soon as he flipped his hips, that’s when I came back for a step-back [triple] and I shot the ball,” Francisco explained. “I was like: ‘It’s either going in, or if it’s not going in, at least I shot it’. I don’t regret anything.”
And with that make, Francisco silenced the Stark Arena crowd and inspired scenes of the Bayern players celebrating ecstatically on the floor. Punter, who ended the game on 22 points, managed to get an open look with 1 second left on the clock, but he missed and Bayern sealed its fourth road victory of the season to improve to an 11-15 record.
Most importantly, the German side bounced back from last week’s home defeat to Olympiacos Piraeus and proved that in Francisco it has a clutch player that can hit winning shots – just like the one he drilled in Belgrade on Thursday night.