By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Shane Larkin carried Anadolu Efes Istanbul to an 87-77 win over ALBA Berlin at home to bounce back and improve to a 15-11 record in Round 33 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. With this victory, Efes has clinched a spot in the playoffs, leaving just two tickets up for grabs.
In the wake of Vasilije Micic’s absence, Larkin fired a season-high performance with 28 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds to pace Ergin Ataman’s team to victory, with a key contribution in the third quarter.
“We got a lot of effort from Larkin”, Ataman said after the game. “Now we reached one of our goals, to play in the playoffs. We will see the next two games and in which position we will finish the regular season. Without Micic and Beaubois in our system, Larkin was the only player who could open the door. If he didn’t play like this, we would have lost the game”.
Elijah Bryant overcame a sloppy fall early in the second half to provide 14 points and 7 rebounds to Efes, while Elijah Bryant scored 13 points along with 6 rebounds.
ALBA started out strong, leading the opening quarter 22-9 though Efes‘ reaction was quick, to cut down the deficit to three points at halftime (39-36). The Germans restored a comfortable six-point lead in the third quarter which the hosts erased to take a 62-57 advantage after 30 minutes. ALBA’s resilience didn’t allow Efes much room to breathe heading into the fourth quarter, yet Larkin was there to secure to win for his team and vanish the visitors’ playoffs hopes.
Oscar Da Silva paced the efforts of resilient ALBA with 20 points, Maodo Lo tapped 15 points and Johannes Thiemann added 11.
Next on, Efes hosts Bayern (April 6) for a Round 19 makeup game, while they travel to Belgrade to face Crvena Zvezda for the finale of the regular season on April 8. ALBA also has two remaining games to complete the regular season; they host Panathinaikos for their Round 19 rescheduled meeting (April 6) and play at Monaco (April 8) for the final round.
Photo credit: EuroLeague