By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
For more than three quarters, Virtus Bologna seemed able to get the home win against Anadolu Efes. In the end, Efes got the 76-67 win to start the season.
Dan Oturu with 14 points, Elijah Bryant with 12, and Shane Larkin with 11 were the top scorers of the winners.
On the other side, Isaia Cordinier scored 16 points, Toko Shengelia scored 12, and no other player scored more than seven.
Former Efes player Will Clyburn who moved to Virtus finished the game without scoring, while Efes coach Tomislav Mijatovic supported his two newcomers from the NBA, Stanley Johnson and Jordan Nwora, who were on the back seat in their first EuroLeague game but “they are learning on the fly“.
Decided on the fourth
The first half was totally balanced with Virtus Bologna having a 21-15 lead in the first period and the score tied at 36 at halftime.
However, Efes started the second half with an 11-0 run (47-36) shocking the hosts as Bryant and Oturu both reached the 10-point mark in an impressing cresento.
Virtus managed to react and with their own, 14-2 run got a one-point lead (50-49) as Shengelia got 12 points and the Italians entered the last period leading by one (52-51).
And then the story changed. Efes got a 13-2 run, creating a 12-point cushion (70-58) with four minutes left and not looking back after that.
Photo credit: Virtus Segafredo Bologna