BELGRADE, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Partizan NIS of Serbia defeated Italy's Dolomiti Energia Trento 76-71 (22-7, 14-25, 20-17, 20-22) here on Tuesday in the sixth round of Group C of the 2018-19 EuroCup Basketball, keeping alive their hopes of qualifying for the competition's next stage.
The Serbian and Italian league runners-up started the match at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall both aiming to achieve their second victory in the competition so far. It was also Partizan's first European game with new head coach Andrea Trinchieri at the helm.
In the first five minutes the home team managed to build a 10-point lead, mostly thanks to Stefan Jankovic who opened the scoring, and Jock Landale who registered a slam dunk. Davide Pascolo earned Trento's first points in the 6th minute, but Marcus Paige instantly answered with a three-pointer.
Into the second quarter, the Italian team managed to cut their 15-point deficit in half, thanks to some poor finishing from Partizan. At the beginning of the quarter, Trento went on an 8-0 scoring run led by Nikola Jovanovic, who managed to keep their momentum going into the next quarter.
Jovanovic scored in the 26th minute to decrease the gap to just one point at 45-44, but was sent off after a clash with Partizan's Jankovic. Without their best player, Trento had little to fight for, and the third quarter ended with Partizan re-establishing a seven-point lead.
From there, the Serbian team were able to see out the match thanks to some stout teamwork in defense and inspired attacking play from Landale, who registered 18 points throughout the match.
With 16 points and six assists, Paige also had a solid game for Partizan. For Trento, Jovanovic scored 20 points, while Devyn Marble added another ten points.
The result means Partizan stay in fifth place, while Trento remain bottom of Group C. Both sides' next EuroCup matches will take place on November 13, when Trento host French side ASVEL, while Partizan will travel to Russia to face Zenit Saint Petersburg.
