Partizan's 80–66 win over Baskonia on Wednesday night looked comfortable on the final scoreboard. It was anything but comfortable for three quarters. Five points separated the teams at the last break in Belgrade before Partizan slammed the door, holding the visitors to just six fourth-quarter points. For a team trying to climb above an even EuroLeague record, the finish mattered as much as the margin.
The difference was a returning centre who gave Partizan something reliable when the outside shots weren't falling. Tonye Jekiri scored 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and finished with a performance index rating of 25 in just under 21 minutes. The Nigerian big man had been out for nearly a month, and his return supplied a dependable interior option against his former club. The EuroLeague's official game record confirms the 11 November result and the competition's Round 11 setting.
Partizan led 23–18 after one quarter, 42–38 at half-time and 65–60 at three-quarter time. Baskonia had stayed close enough to make the last ten minutes uncomfortable. Then the visitors' offence collapsed. A 15–6 closing period turned a live contest into a 14-point result and left Baskonia with a 1–10 record. Partizan moved to 6–5, back on the right side of .500. The quarter-by-quarter match report from Serbian public broadcaster RTS traces that decisive late separation.
It wasn't a night when Partizan could simply shoot Baskonia out of the building. They made only six of 25 three-point attempts. Instead, they found points closer to the basket, where Jekiri converted eight of ten attempts and Nikola Tanasković contributed 14 points on seven-of-eight shooting. That's an important distinction for Joan Peñarroya's side: the offence found a second route to scoring rather than relying on a hot perimeter streak.
Carlik Jones added 16 points and six assists, giving Partizan a creator who could keep the ball moving while the big men finished possessions. Alessandro Pajola provided an unlikely perimeter lift, making all three of his triples for nine points. The full game box score also shows the possession gap: Partizan committed seven turnovers to Baskonia's 17. That ten-possession difference helps explain how the hosts survived a cold shooting night and still won by double figures.
Baskonia's Chris Duarte led his side with 15 points, while Kenneth Faried pulled down eight rebounds. The visitors actually held a 34–30 edge on the glass, so rebounding alone wasn't the problem. They repeatedly surrendered the ball and couldn't generate enough clean looks when the pressure tightened. Six points in a fourth quarter is a brutal way to lose a game that was still within reach after 30 minutes.
For Partizan, Jekiri's return changes the balance of its frontcourt immediately. His touch around the rim takes some scoring pressure off the guards, and his presence gives Jones a clear target when the defence chases shooters off the line. That was the useful lesson from this win: Partizan didn't need a perfect offensive night to finish strongly. Baskonia, meanwhile, must find a way to protect possessions when games get tight, because another late collapse has left it with only one EuroLeague victory from 11 attempts.
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