Partizan played in the second round of the highest tier of the Adriatic caravan in Novo Mesto, where they had a match against Krka. The black-and-whites triumphed with a score of 96:56.
Mateusz Ponitka was not in the lineup for this match, while on the other side, Isaiah Cousins was excluded from the roster.
The game started brilliantly with Aleksa Avramovic, leading the black-and-whites to an 8:3 lead. Partizan couldn’t pull away with a lead greater than five points until the end of the first quarter. The home team struggled to make three-pointers, and the black-and-whites were no better (3/12). After ten minutes of play, the Belgrade team led 16:11.
Partizan had a fantastic start to the second period, hitting three three-pointers in as many attempts, taking a 13:2 run to reach their biggest lead of the game, 29:13. Uros Trifunovic, Danilo Andjusic, and Frank Kaminsky scored from beyond the arc in succession. The black-and-whites continued to play aggressively on defense while making open shots on offense. Krka was unable to respond adequately after the first half, trailing 45:22.
Partizan continued to punish every defensive lapse by the home team, with Kevin Punter and Tristan Vukcevic benefiting the most. Miha Cerkvenik and Jairus Hamilton were the only players in the Slovenian team’s jersey who found their rhythm, but even that couldn’t prevent them from falling behind by 30 points at one point (54:24). In the second part of the third quarter, Krka played much better, but it couldn’t erase the deficit as they entered the final period trailing 68:44.
Things didn’t change much in the fourth quarter either. P.J. Dozier put on an excellent performance during his time on the court, and the lead kept growing, with Partizan leading 79:44. The game had already turned into a one-way street by the second quarter, and the only question left was by how much the black-and-whites would win.
The top scorer for Partizan was Aleksa Avramovic with 15 points and six rebounds. P.J. Dozier finished with 11 points, and Balsa Koprivica reached double figures with 12 points. Interestingly, Alen Smailagic, who spent 11 minutes on the court, didn’t make it onto the score sheet for the black-and-whites. Jairus Hamilton stood out for Krka, contributing 16 points, the same as Miha Cerkvenik.
In the next round of the ABA League, Krka will face Buducnost in Podgorica, while Partizan will host Cibona.