By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
Kevin Punter scored a team-high 18 points and played a key last-second defense on Vasilije Micic’s go-ahead attempt as Olimpia Milano defeated Anadolu Efes 72 – 69 on the road to close the double-game week with two wins in two games.
“Tiring, but it feels good. It was a mental game,” Punter said. “We had energy. We got a couple of stops, made a couple of shots and we won the game.” Milano has improved to 9 – 5.
Punter dropped 12 points in the first half to help Milano get a 31 – 46 lead at the break and then went silent until scoring five points during a 0 – 9 run thanks to which his team went up 67 – 71 with two minutes to play. Efes had previously made a big comeback with 15 unanswered points in the beginning of the third period and then led by six halfway through the final quarter.
It was Micic (20 points, eight assists, five rebounds) who led the comeback charge for Efes. The Serbian guard missed in a 3-point attempt with the score 69 – 71 and five seconds to play while Efes overall went silent in the last four minutes of the game, finding only two points from the free throw line. In the meantime, Milano made the necessary shots go ahead thanks to Punter plus buckets by Sergio Rodriguez for the 67 – 64 and 67 – 69.
Shavon Shields added 11 points and five rebounds for Milano while Malcolm Delaney had 10 points. Rodrigue Beaubois contributed 13 points and Bryant Dunston 11 points plus eight rebounds for Efes that is now 7-8 after suffering four losses in a row.