By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Shane Larkin with 20 points and newcomer Tyrique Jones with a career-high double-double (21 p. 14 r. 4 st.) led shorthanded Anadolu Efes to the big 71-68 win over Panathinaikos.
On the bench of the Greek, former Efes coach Ergin Ataman returned to his old home, only to see the former back-to-back champions proving that they can’t be underestimated no matter what.
Efes was already missing Will Clyburn, Rodrigue Beaubois, Elijah Bryant, Tibor Pleiss, Derek Willis, and Ante Zizic, while Erkan Yilmaz was also injured on his shoulder during the game.
“He broke his shoulder and I am sorry for his situation”, coach Erden Can said after the game.
Still thanks to the Larkin-Jones duo they got the job done despite a total of 17% shooting in threes, but having also 40 rebounds, 19 of them offensive.
“It was next man up, everybody that played tonight, it’s thanks to my teammates and glory to god”, said Jones after the final buzzer. “It was just my will to win, we wanted to protect the homecourt”.
Kendrick Nunn and Mathias Lessort scored 13 points each for Panathinaikos, Jerian Grand had 12 and Kostas Sloukas had nine points and eight assists, however, they couldn’t get the win in the closing seconds.
Both teams are now tied at 6-6 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings. As Can added: “It’s a tough moment for us and tough moments are for tough people, but at the end of the day it’s just one more game”.
A thrilling second half
Efes started the game strong, leading 23-11, before Panathinaikos trimmed the lead to eight (25-13) at the end of the first quarter.
The hosts pushed the lead even to 13 points (34-21), however with four straight points by Nunn, Panathinaikos made a 10-3 run to close the first half trailing by six (37-31).
That was just the start, as the Greeks started the second half with a 7-1 run tying the score at 38. Efes answered back with a 6-0 run (44-38) but the momentum had changed and the dogfight started.
The two teams entered the last period with Panathinaikos having a two-point advantage (52-50) and the two opponents staying close until the end. After 11 lead changes, the score was tied at 65.
Nunn with a big three game to Panathinaikos the 68-65 lead with two minutes left. One minute later, however, Efes got the lead back with Shane Larkin making three free throws (70-68). Sloukas got the ball but was blocked by Darius Thompson who was fouled.
He made one free throw (71-68), and Dinos Mitoglou had the chance to send the game to overtime, but his shot drew iron. “That’s a character win”, concluded Larkin.
“We started the game very badly, we had the chance to control the game in the second half, but we gave up 19 offensive rebounds and we made 16 turnovers”, admitted coach Ataman who also added referring to the crucial free throws of Larkin: “I have to see the video of the play of Grand against Larkin which was called a foul”.