Dubai Basketball continued its perfect start in the ABA League with an 82:70 victory over Partizan in Round 5.
The home team turned the game around with an incredible 23:2 run between the third and fourth quarters, handing the visitors their third consecutive defeat and first in the regional competition.
Partizan started better, controlling the rhythm through most of the first half. The visitors led 18:19 after the opening quarter and went into halftime with a 41:43 advantage, thanks mainly to Jabari Parker, who was the only double-digit scorer at the break.
Dubai stayed close through accurate three-point shooting, hitting four of its first eight attempts.
After the interval, everything changed. Dubai completely took over with a dominant 23:2 run that broke the game open.
The hosts tightened their defence, found success inside the paint through Petrušev and Sanli, and capitalized as Partizan went nearly eight minutes without a field goal.
Dwayne Bacon led the charge, scoring ten straight points and ending the third quarter with a three-pointer at the buzzer for a 66:55 lead.
Head Coach of Dubai Basketball Jurica Golemac said, "This was a very important victory for us after a couple of losses on the road. Despite all the problems, we showed character and energy. In the end, congratulations to the team for believing - even with all the absences, we didn’t give up.
"Thank you to the fans again for being here and supporting us, for giving us the energy when we needed it. I’d say today we had a little more energy than Partizan, even with this crazy rhythm of games."
From that point on, Dubai kept full control of the game. The lead grew to as much as 22-point difference in the final period before Partizan managed to reduce the margin late on.
Dubai closed out the match confidently, securing another impressive victory and extending their unbeaten streak.
Filip Petrušev led the way for Dubai Basketball, he dropped a game-high 18 points on 6/7 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds and 2 steals. Bacon followed with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
The team have their longest home game stint this month with four consecutive home games starting from Sunday, November 9 (6 PM) against ABA League's SC Derby at Coca-Cola Arena.
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