Bakken Fall But Stay Within Striking Distance

KK Igokea Partizan drew first blood in their EuroCup Elimination Round tie with Bakken Bears, winning 68-62 in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Leading 52-50 early in the fourth quarter, Nikola Vucurovic,  Aleksandar Subara and Slobodan Tosic buried three straight three-pointers in an 11-2 run that put the Bosnian side in control for good.

A Vucurovic lay-up stretched the advantage to 67-54 with 3:03 remaining but Danish side Bakken reeled off eight of the game’s final nine points and ended up losing by just six.

That has given them hope of overturning the deficit when they play the return leg in Aarhus on November 6.

Five different Igokea Partizan players connected from long range on the night as they finished nine of 29 (31%).

Subara, who led the team with 16 points, was two of six (33%) from the arc while Vucurovic was three of eight (37.5%).

Bakken would have been in an even better position had they made more free throws but they sank just seven of 13 (53.8%).