By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Lorenzo Brown was an unkind guest for Crvena Zvezda in his first visit to the place he had a standout first season in EuroLeague in 2019-2020.
With the score tied at 71 and four seconds remaining, Brown ran the floor, dribbled his way past former teammate Ognjen Dobric and hit the floater at the buzzer that gave Fenerbahce the 73 – 71 win on the road over Red Star.
“I feel great, actually, it was a hard-fought win. We had to come out here and play great and we just came out with the win,” Brown said. “It feels good to go back home with the victory. It was very emotional to come back and see those guys, to see what they have been accomplishing this year. I have some old friends on this team like Jordan Loyd and Langston Hall.”
Brown finished with 13 points and was Fener’s top scorer along with DySahwn Pierre. Marko Guduric, another former Crvena Zvezda player, had his top performance after his return to EuroLeague with 11 points and eight rebounds.
Guduric also hit a 3-pointer that gave Fener a 71 – 69 with 2:52 as his team came back from 66 – 59 down in the fourth period. Zvezda went up again when Dejan Davidovac drained the 3-pointer for the 71 – 69. and then Pierre made a pair of free throws before Brown’s game-winner.
“We made some mistakes and did a lot of good things, for sure,” Crvena Zvezda coach Dejan Radonjic said. “With the problems we have, with Corey [Walden] not being able to help us at the end of the game, we will continue to work and I hope we will be quite good when it is most important for us.”
Johnny O’ Bryant had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds for the hosts that were missing leading scorer Jordan Loyd (COVID-19). Ognjen Dobric finished with 12 points.
A victory over a dangerous team
Fenerbahce coach Igor Kokoskov knew that Red Star wouldn’t be easy prey despite its absences and this is why he was pleased his guys left Belgrade with the win.
“Tough game, tough place to play. Crvena Zvezda was missing a few guys, that’s not a secret, we all saw it, but sometimes to play your best game without your best players. This team proved in the last couple of EuroLeague games that they can play really well even when missing a couple of guys. They are very dangerous and played at home with a lot of energy, a lot of emotions. It was a tough game to play.
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball