Sports News: Basketball

Partizan Igokea blasts TAU Ceramica in Belgrade 76-55

Euroleague TOP 16 - "Pionir": Belgrade, Serbia • Thu 3 April 2008

Partizan Igokea got the most out of the brilliant Pionir Arena atmosphere in Belgrade on Thursday evening and put in a brilliant performance to eventually thrash Spain’s basketball champions Tau Ceramica 76-55 (25-15, 11-16, 18-17, 22-7). The convincing win means the overall score is 1-1, which earns the black-and-whites a chance to play Game 3 of the Euroleague’s Quarterfinal play-off series. Partizan maintained a healthy lead throughout the game – with poor spells when Tau Ceramica nearly closed the gap on Dusko Vujosevic’s side – but in the end Partizan managed to finish their rivals off in style with an explosive fourth quarter. The deciding game number three is played on 10 April in Vitoria, Spain.

Partizan Igokea knocked out big PAO

Euroleague TOP 16 - "Pionir": Belgrade, Serbia • Wed 19 March 2008

It was a totally unforgettable last night in Belgrade's arena "Pionir", which was fulfilled until the last seat, as Partizan Igokea finally crushed reining European champion Panathinaikos from Athens knocking them out of the competition! At the same time Partizan made unbelievable success entering into the Euroleague play-offs what was almost like unreachable dream before the TOP 16! Partizan Igokea is for sure the most pleasant surprise of the season in all European international competitions.

A champion came crashing down as a basketball tradition rose up again when Partizan Igokea defeated Panathinaikos 82-73 in Group D on Wednesday to reach the Quarterfinal Playoffs and liberate the Euroleague trophy for a new owner. A year after making its first Top 16 of the decade, Partizan went a step further, finishing 4-2 in Group D to set up a best-of-three playoff series with Group E winner Tau Ceramica. The heroes were many, but one a night when Panathinaikos neutralized Partizan's season-long star, Nikola Pekovic, two seasoned veterans led the way. Milt Palacio scored 24 points for the winners, including a killer driving layup heading into the final minute. Dusan Kecman has 16 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists, including a pair of late put-backs that settled the matter.

After the game Partizan's head coach Dusko Vujosevic said: "I am extremely happy because of this unbelievable win against current Euroleague champion. I want to congratulate my players and to say them a big thank you because they gave 100% in every game of TOP 16 phase. I really don't remember when the atmosphere and audience was better than tonight! We are ready for the battle against TAU in the 1/4 finals".

Partizan Igokea downed strong Montepaschi 78-75 !

Euroleague TOP 16 - "Pionir": Belgrade, Serbia • Wed 5 March 2008

Reining Serbian and Adriatic league champion grabbed the second consecutive win in Euroleague TOP 16 making a huge step forward to their dream - Euroleague quarterfinals. They downed, until last night unbeatable, Montepaschi Siena, who plays this season in amazing shape. Like always, Partizan had unbelievable support from their fans. Again there was almost 7.000 people in hall Pionir.

Milt Palacio scored 14 of his season-high 26 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Serbian champs to an impressive come-from-behind win in a game that saw three ties and three lead changes in the final three minutes. Partizan improved to 2-2 in Group D, while handing Motepaschi its first loss and denying the Italian champs the opportunity to clinch a quarterfinal berth already.

In order to reach the Euroleague quarterfinals Partizan will most probably have to beat the Greek giant PAO, who celebrated against Serbian team three times this season in extremely dramatic finishes.

"Partizan suffered two consecutive defeats in this phase of the competition, but we knew it wasn’t all over for us. We managed to defeat Efes Pilsen and Montepaschi and put ourselves in the position to fight for one of the two top places that lead to the quarter-final. There’s no need to lose any sleep over our next two opponents; we only need to concentrate on our own game. We know that we must win both matches if we want to progress to the next round and we’ll give our best to do so," says Milt Palacio.
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