Partizan Routs Burg 101-77, Takes Third in Athens

The OAKA arena in Athens was empty deep into the evening, yet Partizan’s bench roared like the building was packed. Players hugged after the final buzzer, someone cracked a joke about the guys who had spent the whole tournament riding the bench, and word quickly went out to the fans that the preseason check was complete and everyone would see each other Friday at the Arena. It was a fitting way to leave Athens after a day that had begun with Markus Foster’s three-pointer, the shot that sank the black-and-whites in the semifinal.

In the third-place game of the Pavlos Janakopulos tournament, Partizan looked like a completely different team from the one that had gone to its knees the night before in a 100-99 loss to PAOK. Against France’s Burg, Djoan Penjaroja’s side cruised to a 101-77 win, one that was even more convincing than the final score suggests. The quarter-by-quarter breakdown read 20-17, 29-28, 33-13 and 19-19, though Arena Sport’s broadcast had the final period at 19-18. However the last minute is counted, one thing is clear: the game was decided in the third quarter.

Through halftime, Burg, outmatched as they were, kept finding a way to stay within striking distance of Partizan. The black-and-whites built an eight-point lead at one stage, but the French side answered every time, exploiting a defense that was still loose and a roster still finding its rhythm this early in the season. The half ended with just a five-point gap, 49-45. Then came the response Penjaroja demands from his team: tighter defense, still fluid offense. Partizan needed barely three minutes to open its first double-digit lead, and then Luka Vildoza drained a three-pointer that capped a personal 7-0 run and pushed the score to 70-52. From that point on, Burg had no answer, and with ten minutes to go the gap had swelled to 24 points.

Vildoza was the most productive man on the floor, finishing with 18 points on a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range, adding three rebounds and two assists. Itan Tompson chipped in 15 points, hitting four of seven attempts from deep, while Toni Dzekiri closed the game with 14 points and six rebounds. Karlik Dzons put up 11 points and three assists, and Alesandro Pajola added eight points and six assists, a solid calling card from the point guard spot ahead of the season. For Burg, only Lionel Gadu stood out, with 16 points, as the rest of the roster had no response to the black-and-whites’ second half. Zofri Lovernj sat out for Partizan with a minor injury, though Penjaroja still had more than enough options on the bench without him.

What Penjaroja Wanted From His Team in Athens

Partizan’s coach treated the Athens tournament as a dress rehearsal, not a competition to be won at any cost. That is why, even with a comfortable lead in the third quarter, he called two timeouts in quick succession, purely to point out what he did not like. Burg managed to cut the deficit back under 20 points midway through the final period, but Partizan quickly shut that down and closed out the game without any real risk. Unlike the loss to PAOK, where the defense had cracked late when it mattered most, this time Penjaroja’s team left the locker room with a clear answer to the mistake it had made the day before.

Up Next: Armani and the EuroLeague Opener

With that, the final tune-up is officially in the books. Partizan opens the new EuroLeague season on Friday, September 25, at home in Belgrade against Italy’s Armani from Milan. After two very different outings in Athens, one where the team folded to a rival’s buzzer-beating three and another where it blew out an opponent by twenty-odd points, it is clear Partizan knows both how to lose its composure and how to get it back. The question heading into Belgrade is not whether the black-and-whites have the quality, that much was obvious in both the loss and the win, but which version shows up once the stands are full rather than the half-empty seats of the OAKA arena.