By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce has already lost too many games in closing minutes, but this time around they finished the night the right way. The Turkish side beat CSKA in Moscow 92-81 with Nando De Colo scoring 18 points and make all the big plays in the closing seconds.
Fenerbahce had more leaders on the court and got four more double-digit scorers in Jan Vesely (17 p.), Devin Booker (13 p.), Marial Shayok (12 p.), and Marko Guduric (13 p.).
“I am happy with the win, we finally got it after three games that we lost in the final minutes”, said Vesely adding: “I hope this win will keep us on the right track”.
Will Clyburn was sensational with 26 points for CSKA, Daniel Hackett added 15 points and Toko Shengelia returned to EuroLeague action with 10.
Booker set the tone early with 10 points in the first quarter, as Fenerbahce got a 25-21 lead and Guduric gave the guests a 59-51 advantage in the third.
Pierria Henry made it a 12-point game (67-55), but thanks to a 7-2 run, CSKA trailed by seven at the start of the last period (69-62).
De Colo with a three got the lead back to 10 (72-62), however, with a partial 13-7 score CSKA made it a four-point game (79-75) entering the last three minutes of action.
“We got our moments, but it was not enough”, admitted CSKA coach Dimitris Itoudis.
A big three by Johannes Voigtmann trimmed the lead to three (81-78) only for Nando De Colo to pay CSKA Moscow the same way and keep a solid six-point distance (84-78). One more three by De Colo sealed the deal (87-80).
“Nando closed the game the right way and I am happy because I think that this is what we needed”, said Fenerbahce coach Sasa Djordjevic.
After this result, CSKA which is still missing Grigonis and Milutinov dropped to 4-4 in the EuroLeague standings, while Fenerbahce improved to 3-5.