The Italian side celebrated its third successive road victory over the Serbian team
Virtus derails Partizan and boosts postseason hopes with impressive win in Belgrade
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 16 of 38
Regular Season
Partizan Mozzart Bet BelgradePAR
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Virtus BolognaVIR
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Virtus Bologna enjoyed an emphatic 68-86 win at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and improved to 8-8 in the EuroLeague while the hosts dropped to 6-10 as their interim head coach Mirko Ocokoljic tasted his first loss after four straight wins in all competitions.
The crushing defeat revamped the ghosts of recent turmoil at Partizan, which forced nine-time EuroLeague champion Zeljko Obradovic to step down while players and the board came under intense pressure from angry fans who sided with the legendary head coach.
Partizan looked in control for most of the first half and was in the driving seat after carving out a 37-30 lead before a swift 0-10 run for Virtus turned the matchup on its head for good. The hosts were still in it until late in the third quarter, when Virtus romped away into a 52-63 lead heading into the fourth before the visitors then hit top gear to silence the imposing Belgrade Arena.
“It’s a huge win for us. (Partizan) is a really good team, the atmosphere was amazing but we stayed together for the full 40 minutes and kept encouraging each other,” said player of the game Matt Morgan, who paced Virtus on 14 points and 5 assists. “We know that when the shots don’t fall we’ve got to find other solutions, and everyone contributed in a lot of different ways. That’s how we are going to win a lot of games on the road,” he added.
Virtus made 11 of 31 from downtown but the shots certainly did fall for Derrick Alston, who also netted 14 points as he sank 4-of-5 threes while Carsen Edwards poured in 10 of his game-high 20 points in the first quarter.
“Any road win is good, and especially so in this environment. I am really proud of the team and how we fought today,” said Alston. ”We’ve got offensive players able to score on a high level but today we were big on defense. We executed the game plan really well but tomorrow we have to flip the switch to focus on Zvezda.”
Head coach Dusko Ivanovic will look forward to Friday’s matchup with Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade at the same venue after his men forced 20 turnovers from Partizan, which only managed 15 assists while Virtus also dominated the offensive boards 11-6.
“We suffered three or four tight road defeats but we showed the ability and character to bounce back this evening,” Ivanovic said. “It’s a long season and the most important thing at this stage is to play according to script, which is what we’ve been doing lately despite the losses.”
Having drawn heaps of praise after a pair of successive wins in Europe’s premier club competition, including a comeback 79-76 victory over Zvezda in the previous round, Ocokoljic was brought crashing down to earth amid speculation whether he will stay in charge until the end of the season or make way for one of the big names linked with Partizan in recent weeks.
Some of the anomalies which his predecessor Obradovic had complained about seemed to have resurfaced in the tame defeat by Virtus, as players lacked guile and effort while Jabari Parker, the subject of criticism since his summer move from FC Barcelona, failed to get any minutes – and not for the first time this season.
“Our approach was poor and last night I warned the players that they needed to forget the fact that we’d won four on the trot in all competitions,” Ocokoljic told reporters at the post-game press conference.
“We seemed to switch off after taking a 37-30 lead and Virtus needed no second invitation to turn the matchup on its head. We made too many mistakes in the second half and Virtus duly took advantage. Leaving Parker out was entirely my decision after watching him in practice yesterday, while Tyrique Jones was hampered by injury and it’s unlikely he will be joining us in Kaunas (against Zalgiris) on Friday.”
