By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Carsen Edwards scored a season-high 21 points and Sylvain Francisco posted 17 points and six assists to lead Bayern Munich past Partizan Belgrade 94 – 85 at home. This was the first win for the German side in EuroLeague after four straight losses, while Partizan fell to 3 – 5.
Francisco also made possibly the most crucial play for the game when he drove to the basket for the and-one layup to put Bayern up 89 – 85 with 1:13 to play. Partizan, that had come back from down 12, missed consecutive triples while Leandro Bolmaro and Nick Weiler-Babb increased the margin.
“This win means a lot,” Edwards said. His team is now 3-5. “We still have a long way to go. But I think just seeing us getting the win and putting up the work and finding ways to get results. That’s important for us to make a new start.”
“Just playing the game the right way,” he added on his 21 points. “Take shots that are open for me. My teammates found me.”
Bruno Caboclo impressive in debut
It was a stunning first ever EuroLeague appearance for Partizan newcomer Bruno Caboclo who scored a team-high 19 points over 20 minutes. He also made the 3-point play that put Partizan close 82 – 81 after trailing 65 – 53 with three minutes to play in the third period. James Nunnally had 14 points and Zach LeDay dropped 12 points.
“You see the final result it’s nine points and it looks like it’s an easy win for them but one possession decided the game,” Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic said. He later mentioned in the post-game presser that he meant Francisco’s 3-point play in crunch time.
Partizan had begun the game in a fiery fashion to take a 22 – 32 advantage after the first quarter behind 10 points by Uros Trifunovic. Bayern gradually began improving its defense and Edwards provided necessary offensive solutions as the Bavarian team turned the game completely around to move up 53 – 51 at halftime. They led for the rest of the game.
“We come from two hard weeks for us. We were playing away and we were playing better as a team but details were killing us,” Bayern coach Pablo Laso said. “Today we were able to control the defensive rebounds and we didn’t turn the ball over. I think these were very important parts and keys of our victory. I’m happy for the guys because I think they did a really good job.”