Ahead of Thursday’s meeting between direct rivals Valencia Basket and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, one of the big questions would be which dominant big man – Bojan Dubljevic or Mathias Lessort – would exert the greater influence. In the end, the answer was more emphatic than could have been expected: the night belonged to Dubljevic.
Lessort was the first to strike, hammering home his team’s first points with a fierce putback slam and soon adding another dunk in an early statement of intent – although Dubljevic also got himself moving with 5 fast points, ensuring Partizan did not run into a big early lead. The second quarter saw Lessort get into foul trouble, minimizing his impact for the remainder of the half, while Dubljevic scored 4 more points in a 6-0 run.
