Partizan crush Bologna 99-81 at start of Eurocup Top 16

BELGRADE - Serbian Partizan opened the Top 16 phase of the basketball Eurocup with a 99-81 win over Italy's LBA league leader Bologna on Wednesday in front of more than 16,000 fans at the Belgrade Arena.

The home team started the Group E match powerfully, with precise consecutive field goals of Novica Velickovic and three-pointers of Torrian Walden, while the Italian team responded through Julian Gamble and kept the score even at 14-14.

Walden kept on pouring three-pointers, together with Marcus Paige and Ognjen Jaramaz, allowing their team to gain momentum at 21-14, but yet again, the guests responded with three pointers of their own, and reduced the gap to 3 points before the end of the first quarter.

Bologna seemed paralyzed in the second quarter, allowing Partizan's complete domination. Paige's streak of three-pointers enabled a 12-0 run for the home team, and ultimately, 20-point advantage at halftime.

Bologna strengthened their defenses in the third quarter. However, until the end of the game they failed to close the gap.

Partizan's Walden scored the game high of 23 points, followed by Gordic, who collected 22 points including 10 out of 10 free-throws, and Paige who added 19 points.

Frank Gaines scored the team high of 21 points for Bologna.

Partizan will play next week against Trento, in Italy, while Bologna will host Turkish side Darussafaka.