The first one for Partiza

Tuesday, 06. October 2015 at 23:04

Partizan NIS played one more thrilling game in this season... But, this time they were victorious! The black and whites defeated MZT Skopje Aerodrom and scored their 1st win in the new season.

Partizan NIS played one more thrilling game in this season... But, this time they were victorious! The black and whites defeated MZT Skopje Aerodrom and scored their 1st win in the new season.

ABA League 3rd round, Tuesday, 6.10.2015.
PARTIZAN NIS - MZT Skopje Aerodrom 72:69 (23:25, 15:24, 17:12, 17:8)

Game recap: When Damjan Stojanovski scored a three-pointer in the 33rd minute to put his MZT Skopje Artodrom back on +9 (66:57) it looked like that the away team will take two points from Pionir Hall. Especially, because they were in the lead during the whole game... But, then Partizan NIS started playing amazing defense. Home side were slowly decreasing the margin, while in the closing seconds of 38th minute the black and whites took over the lead - 69:68.

MZT Skopje Aerodrom tied the score on the other side to 69:69 via Marko Luković from a free throw line, while Adin Vrabac also made one from the line and returned the lead to Partizan NIS - 70:69. Away squad had the ball, but Partizan NIS players made a steal on 30 seconds before the end! Game hero Aleksandar Cvetković scored a lay-up in the dying seconds of the attack for 72:69, while Marko Simonovski missed a difficult three-pointer for the overtime.

Key moments: Definitely the decisive moment happened half a minute before the end of the game. It was 70:69 for Partizan NIS, while MZT Skopje Aerodrom had the possession after they called a time-out. The ball got to Luković, he wanted to had it over to Stojanovski, Partizan NIS players managed to take the ball out of their hands.

Man of the match: Aleksandar Cvetković! This guy played with enormous amount of energy and his defensive skills changed the course of this game. Partizan NIS point guard totally stopped Edi Sinadinović and Marko Ljubičić... Actually he was so good in defense that at one point head coach of MZT Skopje Aerodrom Aleš Pipan ordered his shooting guards and small forwards to organize attacks just to avoid Cvetković and his defense! And do not forget that Cvetković played for MZT Skopje Aerodrom in the last season...

Can't trick the stats: As long as they were scoring three-pointers the visitors were way in front. MZT Skopje Aerodrom had 7 out of 10 from behind the 3pts line in the first half, while they scored only 1 out of 9 in the second half! Also, Partizan NIS were much better in rebounding - 31:24.
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