Partizan basketball players reduced their deficit to 1:2 against Dubai in the final series of the regional ABA League playoffs, after they won 84:70 (23:10, 24:24, 20:21, 17:15) on their home court in Belgrade tonight.
The most efficient players for Partizan, the current ABA League champion, with 15 points each were Karlik Jones, who also recorded eight assists, and Bruno Fernando, who also recorded eight rebounds. Tonje Džekiri added 11 points and six rebounds, while Dilan Osetkovski and Isak Bonga, who also had nine rebounds, scored nine points each.
The most efficient players for the Dubai team with 17 points each were Mfiondu Kabengele, who also recorded nine rebounds, and former Partizan basketball player Davis Bertans, while Dzhanan Musa and McKinley Wright added 11 points each.
Serbian basketball players on the Dubai team, Aleksa Avramović and Filip Petrušev, finished the game without scoring a point.
The crowd at the Belgrade Arena chanted the name of the recently deceased sports journalist and basketball commentator Edin Avdić before the start of the game.
The match started very evenly, and after five and a half minutes of play, Partizan led 12:10 when they went into a television timeout.
Partizan came out of the TV timeout much better and with the help of good defense and transition play, with an 8:0 run, gained the first double-digit lead of the game 20:10 with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter. Dubai coach Aleksandar Sekulić called a timeout after this series of black and whites.
The team from the United Arab Emirates struggled offensively and in the second half. The Dubai team did not score a single point in the last five and a half minutes of the first quarter, which ended with Partizan leading 23:10.
The black and whites took a 16-point lead (32:16) at the start of the second quarter, but the Dubai team responded with an 8:0 run and managed to come within eight points of 24:32 after four and a half minutes of play. Partizan coach Gioan Peñaroja called a timeout after this Dubai run.
Partizan repelled Dubai's onslaught, quickly regained a double-digit lead and ended the second quarter with a 13-point lead, 47:34.
The third quarter began with six consecutive points from Dubai center Mfiondu Kabengele, which helped the team from the United Arab Emirates reduce the black and whites' lead to 47:40 after less than a minute of play.
The Dubai team fell to six points behind (46:52) in the following period, but the black and whites responded with a 9:0 run and gained a 15-point lead, 61:46, with four and a half minutes left in the third quarter, after which Sekulić called a timeout.
Partizan's team confidently maintained a double-digit lead until the end of the third quarter, which they ended with a 67:55 lead.
The black and whites regained a 16-point lead at the start of the final quarter (74:58), but the Dubai team responded with a 5:0 run, after which the television timeout, after five and a half minutes of play in the fourth quarter, went into effect with Partizan leading 74:63.
After a television timeout, Partizan's team, with the help of seven consecutive points from Karlik Jones, gained a 14-point lead, 81:67, with two and a half minutes left in the game, after which Sekulić called a timeout.
Sekulić's timeout failed to trigger a turnaround for Dubai, so the match was peacefully brought to an end with a victory for Paritzan 84:70.
The ABA League champion will be the team that records three wins, and the next game of the final series is scheduled for Friday in Belgrade.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
