Milan finishes strong to steamroll Partizan, 76-62

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan celebrated its sixth successive win in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague after a strong fourth quarter helped the Italian side to a 76-62 home win over Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade on Thursday night, which improved it to 12-15 while the visitors dropped to 15-13.
Center Brandon Davies paced Milan with 14 points, 10 of which came in the final quarter, with guard Billy Baron adding as many in a balanced effort. Kevin Pangos and Shabazz Napier added 10 points each for Milan, whose ironclad defense brought Partizan to a screeching halt after the Serbian side beat Virtus Segafredo Bologna 79-88 on the road on Tuesday.
Kevin Punter netted 15 points for Partizan but 9 of them came in the first quarter, when the visitors carved out a 13-19 lead. That was as good as it got for the Serbian team, with its players largely failing to match Milan’s intensity. Matthias Lessort netted 11 points for Partizan, who also had Dante Exum and James Nunnaly score 10 apiece.
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Partizan looked the more composed side early on as Milan struggled to find its offensive rhythm, with the visitors finding themselves 15-23 ahead early in the second quarter before they started to misfire.
Milan stepped up its defense and the hosts were soon on level terms, 25-25, before nosing ahead at halftime, 30-29.
The two teams stayed deadlocked throughout the third quarter, with Milan again carving out a slender lead, 49-46, before the final 10 minutes, when Napier hit a buzzer-beating triple which set the tone for the home stretch.
That bucket ignited a 15-0 run by Milan which took the game out of Partizan’s reach, as the visitors committed a series of turnovers with their usually free-flowing offense falling apart. Davies toyed with his rivals in the paint in the fourth quarter, Baron nailed a pair of long three-pointers and Pangos put the icing on the cake with a behind-the-back assist to Davies for Milan’s final bucket, sparking vociferous celebrations at Mediolanum Forum.