Partizan fail to qualify for EuroLeague F4 after wasting 18-point lead in Madrid

MADRID - Partizan Belgrade have failed to qualify for the EuroLeague Basketball Final Four tournament after suffering a 98-94 (22-23, 17-32, 30-21, 29-18) away defeat to Real Madrid in the fifth game of the two teams' quarter-final series on Wednesday evening.

Real Madrid won the series 3-2 after trailing 2-0 and will face Barcelona in the semi-final of the May 19-21 Final Four tournament in Kaunas.

The other semi-final is Monaco vs Olympiacos.

Partizan missed a great chance to qualify for the Final Four by wasting an 18-point lead in the second half and allowing Real Madrid to turn the game around and win the series.

Kevin Punter led the scoring for Partizan with 28 points and Dante Exum, Mathias Lessort and Giannis Papapetrou added 16, 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Dzanan Musa and Sergio Rodriguez excelled for Real Madrid with 20 and 19 points, respectively, while Mario Hezonja and Walter Tavares added 13 and 12 points, respectively.