Virtus came into the game without leading playmaker Milos Teodosic, who went down with an injury during Italian League action earlier in the week. 

Pajola does best in filling in for Teodosic

Alessandro Pajola did his best to help fill in for the veteran’s absence. The 22-year-old chipped in 7 points as well as 4 rebounds and 9 assists for a performance index rating of 15 before fouling out after more than 24 minutes. The 9 assists were a career-high for Pajola, who committed 3 turnovers in the game.

Punter and Moore lead Partizan’s unstoppable backcourt

Even though playing less than 23 minutes each, Kevin Punter and Dallas Moore set the tone for their team with 17 points apiece – combining for 17 points in the first period. Their strong start paved the way for other backcourt teammates, like Yam Madar, as he took over in the second quarter with 10 points in a 6-minute span to finish the game with career-highs in scoring (18), three-pointers made (4) and PIR (18). 

Partizan NIS Belgrade v Dolomiti Energia Trento (2022-01-12T19:30:00.000Z)

Dallas Moore - Partizan NIS Belgrade (photo Dragana Stjepanovic - Partizan) - EC21

This is what the protagonists of the game had to say after such a close deal down the stretch.

Post-Game Quotes: Virtus 83-82 Bourg


### Sergio Scariolo, Virtus Segafredo Bologna
“I am pleased with this win. It was not easy at all. No game in this EuroCup is easy. You have to fight, you have to have concentration, you have to play with heart, you have to play with your brain connected because you have talent in any opponent. And they can have a scoring run at any time. If you are not in control and have concentration lapses once in a while you will pay for it. I think we built up an excellent late-game lead. We were up 7, 8 points in a pretty comfortable situation. Unfortunately, we probably thought the game was over a little bit too early. We made a couple of avoidable mistakes - even from pretty experienced players. But at the end of the day, the team proved that it has heart. We went down by 6 points at some point and we didn’t lose our composure. We just turned up our defense a couple of levels. And we turned the game in our favor with 10-12 minutes of pretty good defense in the second half.” 


### Gerald Simon, Assistant Coach Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse

“I think we had a great, great first half. On defense, I asked my players to stop the transition and break for Virtus because they play a lot like that. I think we did a good job on that. I regret the third quarter. I think we had a lot of great looks but we hesitated. You lose the timing of the offense and it was impossible to play like this. But we fought until the end. We pushed Virtus for 40 minutes and showed great spirit. We scored a lot of points. It was a great thing for us because we have had some problems on offense in the French league. And I think we can be proud of the job we did.”


### Kyle Weems, Virtus Segafredo Bologna
“I am just happy I was able to come through for my team after an easy ball I should have got [and resulted in a turnover]. But a win is a win. It’s on to the next game.”


Hugo Benitez - Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse (photo Matteo Marchi - Virtus) - EC21

Partizan NIS Belgrade showed no mercy against visiting Dolomiti Energia Trento in recording a 97-65 blowout at Stark Arena on Wednesday night. The hosts ruled from the very beginning, opening the game with a 12-2 run that set the basis for an uncontested dominance all the way. Partizan improved to 7-2 on its quest for the Group A leadership, while Trento slipped to 1-8 with its fourth loss in a row. 

Partizan pummels Trento, 97-65

Kevin Punter and Dallas Moore led the winners with 17 points apiece on a combined 17-of-23 shooting. Yam Madar followed with 18 points on 4-of-6 on threes, while Uros Trifunovic and Alen Smailagic contributed 10 points apiece. Andrea Mezzanote was Trento’s top scorer with 15 points and Jordan Caroline, Diego Flaccadori and Jonathan Williams posted 14, 13 and 11 respectively. 

Punter set the tone early for the hosts, as he scored 6 points of Partizan’s first 10 to set a 10-2 edge after less than 4 minutes. The visitors tried to stop such a quick bleeding with an urgent timeout, but Mathias Lessort made it a double-digit lead from the line soon after. Even though Caroline came to the rescue with a jumper, Trento was unable to chain together successful offenses. As such, Partizan found no trouble to keep increasing the margin through Moore and Punter. Smailagic joined the party with 4 points in a row to precede a buzzer-beating triple by Punter that closed the first quarter with Partizan dominating 27-8.

Flaccadori scored once the game resumed, but it didn’t change the trend. Madar answered with 8 points in a row, which included back-to-back threes, and Trifunovic added another of his own to make it 38-10. A 0-6 spark followed by the first triple of the night for the visitors helped Trento find its offensive momentum and avoid a harder punishment, reducing the disadvantage to 41-19 midway through the second quarter. Flaccadori and Caroline combined to try to keep the visitors alive, 45-26, but Moore showed up with a couple of long jumpers to allow Partizan to restore a solid 52-28 lead at halftime. 

Punter and Lessort combined right after intermission to boost Partizan to a 28-point difference. The guests responded through the duo of Williams and Caroline, but Moore took over for the hosts to keep the visiting team far enough from considering a potential reaction, 64-39. Mezzanote showed up big from deep, as he drained back-to-back three pointers that forced a Partizan timeout when the difference went below the 20-point limit at 64-45. Williams and Mezzanote kept scoring from deep as the Partizan offense focused more on its frontcourt. A three-point play by Balsa Koprivica and free throws by Smailagic closed the third quarter with the hosts up 74-53.

Madar and Trifunovic took over for Partizan from the perimeter early in the final stanza making it 81-55 with 7 minutes remaining. With the outcome in no doubt, Partizan took advantage of that to rotate some players while increasing the margin at the same time. It reached a peak of 32 points, 93-61, just 2 minutes before the end, and it stayed that way at the end thanks to a nasty dunk by Gregor Glas on the last play of the contest. 

Kevin Punter - Partizan NIS Belgrade (photo Dragana Stjepanovic - Partizan) - EC21

Partizan NIS Belgrade started the game at full throttle, proving from the very beginning it was not willing to give even a slim chance to think of a potential victory to its opponent.

Partizan breaks the game early and fast

The hosts made all the two-pointers they attempted in the first 6 minutes for an 18-4 advantage that grew to 27-8 at the end of the first quarter. At that time, Partizan had recorded a performance index rating of 38 against Trento’s 0. 8 points by Yam Madar in a 10-0 run to start the second made it 38-10 and even more painful for the visitors, who never recovered. 

Yam Madar - Partizan NIS Belgrade (photo Dragana Stjepanovic - Partizan) - EC21

Virtus Segafredo Bologna wasted an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter but fended off Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse 83-82 at home in Group B. The game was close until Virtus went on an 18-1 run spanning the final two quarters to build an 11-point lead. Bourg raced back to tie the game but Kyle Weems drained 2 three-pointers and 2 big free throws in the final 89 seconds to ice the game.

Virtus survives against Bourg after blowing late lead, 83-82

Weems and Mam Jaiteh both scored 15 points and Marco Belinelli added 13 points for Virtus, which improved to 6-3. Bourg dropped to 2-7 and has still not won on the road. Jalen Jones led the way with 17 points while JaCorey Williams and Maxime Roos both scored 13 points. 

Amar Alibegovic opened the scoring and Williams hit at the other end. Jones gave Bourg its first lead 4-5, the first of five lead changes - with Maxime Courby and Belinelli making three-pointers for either side, the latter of which was followed by an Alessandro Pajola three-point play and Jaiteh score for an 18-12 advantage. Bourg failed to score for almost 3 minutes before Pierre Pelos knocked down a triple. Virtus led 22-17 after 10 minutes.

Jaiteh scored two baskets early in the second quarter, but Bourg started hitting from long range as Pelos, Hugo Benitez and Alexandre Chassang all knocked down triples and Roos nailed two three-pointers and Bourg was up 26-32. Amedeo Tessitori stopped a nearly 4-minute Virtus scoring drought, Isaia Cordinier connected on three-pointers and Weems also hit a three-pointer to put Virtus back ahead 39-37. The hosts led 43-42 at the break. 

Weems started the scoring in the second half and CJ Harris put Bourg back ahead with a three-pointer and 6 straight points had the visitors up 47-53. Virtus held Bourg scoreless for the final 5:19 of the quarter and five different players scored - including a Nico Mannion three-pointer - in a 13-0 run to surge back ahead 60-53 after 30 minutes.

Bourg finally ended the 6:13-minute drought with an Axel Julien free throw from a Belinelli technical foul. Jaiteh and Weems scored as Virtus increased the lead to double figures 65-54 with more than 7 minutes left. Roos scored Bourg’s first basket in 9 minutes and then added a three-pointer and layup. Jones added 5 points to complete a 1-12 run to knot the game at 66-66 with less than 4 minutes to play. Virtus punched back with 6 straight points and Weems drained back-to-back three-pointers for a 78-70 cushion with 42 seconds left. Bourg was not dead yet with Courby and Rasheed Sulaimon both hitting triples and Courby adding a steal and layup and Sulaimon knocking down foul shots to pull within 81-80 with 8.2 seconds remaining. Weems’s 2 free throws were matched by 2 from Sulaimon with 5.9 seconds left. But Virtus was able to run out the clock for the win. 

Kyle Weems - Virtus Segafredo Bologna (photo Matteo Marchi - Virtus) - EC21

In the past week, Bourg tried to add reinforcements to turn around its season with the signing of Jalen Jones, who had played 13 games in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2018-19. 

Jalen Jones makes strong debut

The 28-year-old forward had a strong debut in the EuroCup as he scored a team-high 17 points - making 7 of 14 shots and 2 of 4 free throws. Jones also picked up 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals for an index rating of 17.

Jalen Jones - Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse (photo Matteo Marchi - Virtus) - EC21

Dolomiti Energia Trento came into this game with several relevant absences, as Desonta Bradford, Cameron Reynolds and Wesley Saunders were not able to play. 

No rest for Trento’s short rotation

As such, the visitors were forced to limit their rotation to just 8 players, with Maximilian Ladurner and Lorenzo Dell’Anna playing just 9:35 and 5:29 respectively. A lack of fresh legs seemed to punish Trento hardly in the last period, when they were outscored 23-12 after winning the third 22-23 and losing the second by just 3 points, 25-22.

Johnathan Williams 2- Dolomiti Energia Trento (photo Dragana Stjepanovic - Partizan) - EC21

Virtus came into the game as one of the offensive powerhouses, leading the league in assists and three-point shooting and ranking second in points and two-point shooting percentage. 

Telling numbers - Virtus defends well on two-pointers

But defensively, Sergio Scariolo’s team had been giving up the third-most points while ranking 15th in opponents’ two-point percentage at 55.8%. Virtus rose to the challenge against Bourg though, holding the French club to just 46.0% on two-pointers. Virtus also connected on 78.3% of its free throws - which showed its importance at the end.

Alessandro Pajola celebrates - Virtus Segafredo Bologna (photo Matteo Marchi - Virtus) - EC21