Amazing game in Belgrade, Partizan 117 – 104 Igokea (@ABA_League)

In the fifth round of ABA League, Partizan won 117 – 104 against Igokea from Aleksandrovac in an amazing game in “Aleksandar Nikolic” Hall that celebrated with their home crowd after the game.

Both teams played great in offense and till the end it was an interesting game full of amazing plays, but in the end home team took the victory in their hands.

The best scorer was Nigel Williams-Goss with 30 points with 8 assists while Patrick Miller added 23 points and 11 assists. More than 10 points scored also Djoko Salic (16 points), Mihajlo Andric (15) and Vanja Marinkovic (14). Also Marko Cakarevic had an amazing defensive game and it is worth mentioning that Partizan with him plays better defense than without him. He is pulling all strings in that part of the game. Cakarevic scored 5 points with 10 rebounds.

Dorrel Wright finished the game with 34 points and 7 rebounds. He was the best player for the team from Aleksandrovac. Aleksandar Ponjavic, Vuk Radivojevic and Marko Ljubicic scored each 13 points. Guest finished the game with amazing 40% for three points shots.

Igokea had the first possession in the game, but Partizan made first notable lead six minutes before the end of the first quarter (8 – 4). All because of the great defense Marko Cakarevic was providing. After Muta Nikolic replaced Cakarevic, Partizan’s defense wasn’t so good as with him in the game but they managed to score, so black and whites were leading by 4 till 2 minutes before the end. Then hosts took the lead and the result was 17 – 16. First part was finished with 4 points advantage for guests from Aleksandrovac (19 – 23).

In the second quarter both teams started great offensively, and in the first part Igokea was protecting its lead from the first quarter. Even though black and whites were playing decent defense guests were making three points shots easily so after 15 minutes result was 32 – 40. Approximately at two minutes to the end of the first half Partizan managed to came back in the game and even the score (45 – 45). But after a time out Igokea took a lead again but again Partizan managed to get back and finished the half with the score 50 – 50. Cakarevic finished first half with 6 rebounds while Williams-Goss had 14 points. The best player in that half for guests was Dowell Wright with 18 points while Djordje Milosevic had 8 rebounds (4 offensive and 4 defensive).

Guests from Bosnia and Herzegovina were more focused after the 15 minutes break and in the first five minutes of the third quarter they were leading by 3 (61 – 64), and they continued with decent percentage for three points (in the first half they were shooting 44.4%). But then, Partizan exploded in defense as much as in offense and at two minutes to the end of the first part of second half they were leading 74 – 68. Then Igokea made a lot of mistakes and one particular was leading to technical fault that helped hosts to first two digits lead (80 – 68) and guests made last points in that quarter. Again, it was a three points shot for the result 80 – 71.

Mihajlo Andric made two three points shot in the first minute of the second quarter and helped Partizan to have two digits lead again. And black and whites were controlling the rhythm in those minutes but then game started to make shots from free points line. Then the game got its regular course and 4 minutes before the end black and whites managed to get more than 100 points (108 – 95). They were playing like in NBA with only difference that NBA game lasts 48 minutes and in Europe it is only played 40 minutes. More then at two minutes to the end was when guests made their 100 points so Igokea announced intense game till the end. At the end, result was 117 – 104 for the black and whites. After the game players were celebrating with home crowd their third victory in regional league.

At the press conference both coaches were talking about poor defense they teams were playing.

“We had best defense in the league till this game against Partizan and today we allowed opponent to score more than 100 points. We have to work on that again and to play our game in upcoming matches. I want to congratulate Partizan on the victory”, said head coach of Igokea Dragan Basic.

“We played lousy defense, and I am not satisfied with what we showed tonight, but I am glad we won. This was like a game in NBA, with lot of points and no defense, not like I planned”, said Milosavljevic Nikolic after the game.