Partizan's Bandja Sy (L) goes for a lay-up past Ankara's Metin Turen during the round 10 match at the regular season of 2018-2019 Eurocup basketball tournament between Partizan and Ankara in Belgrade, Serbia on Dec. 19, 2018. Partizan won 87-72 and qualified for top 16. (Xinhua/Predrag Milosavljevic)
BELGRADE, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Partizan defeated Ankara 87-72 to qualify for the next stage of the basketball Eurocup in a superb match here Wednesday.
In front of some 6,300 spectators at the Aleksandar Nikolic hall, the two teams clashed in the 10th, final game of the Group C, destined to decide which of the teams will proceed to the Top 16 phase of the competition - 5th ranked Partizan, or 3rd ranked Ankara.
The home team scored three consecutive three-pointers for a 9-0 series at the beginning of the game thanks to precision of Aleksej Nikolic and Stefan Jankovic, but Ankara returned with three-pointers of Kenny Gabriel, creating uncertainty early in the game.
Partizan's Djordje Gagic made two slam-dunks in a row for the 25-21 that ended the first quarter, while in the second period Rade Zagorac helped to increase the lead further to 37-25 with a field goal, three-pointer, as well as an attractive alley-oop directed to Bandja Sy.
Towards the end of the half Partizan increased the lead to 13 points after Gagic assisted to Jock Landale, but T.J. Campbell scored some 30 seconds before the break to set half-time score to 43-32.
Ankara started to reduce Partizan's advantage early in the second half, but did not manage to overcome it, despite 5-0 series of Ender Arslan and Vladimir Stimac. Gagic then assisted to Nikolic who expanded Partizan's lead to 14 with a three-pointer.
The final quarter started with 12-point lead of Partizan at 66-54 which seemed unbreakable, as Landale and Marcus Paige continued to pile-up points. Vanja Marinkovic scored a three-pointer, while Rade Zagorac added a field goal to further increase the gap to 17 points at 81-64 and secured the much-needed victory.
Best in the ranks of the Serbian team was Rade Zagorac with 18 points and 5 assists, followed by Djordje Gagic with 13 points. Among Ankara's player's Vladimir Stimac stood out with 21 points, as well as Gabriel with 16 points.
Partizan is the second Serbian team to qualify for the Top 16, after Red Star recently confirmed its qualification by beating Italian Brescia.
