By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes is getting hot and doesn’t have any pity for Milan’s woes.
The Turkish team won 96-84 on the road and now has a 3-2 record in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, while the Italians dropped to 1-4.
Elijah Bryant, with 19 points, and Darius Thompson, with 17 and seven assists, led the winning side, which lost Shane Larkin due to injury during the game.
As Thompson said: “It was kind of like a next-man-up mentality. He went down, we needed somebody to make plays. I had the ball, I tried to do what I could to help the team win”.
Ercan Osmani and Jordan Nwora with 11 points each were also among the standouts.
For Milan, which appeared on the court just in the third period, Nikola Mirotic scored 29 points and Zach LeDay had 16.
Ousmane Diop, Josh Nebo, Fabien Causeur, and David McCormack missed the game for the hosts, but as coach Messina said at halftime speaking at EuroLeague TV: “We can talk until tomorrow morning about the absentees, but we need more on the court. We owe it to the team, the club, the ownership and our fans”.
An uncompleted comeback
Efes dominated the first half after a 23-11 first period and a 21-point advantage at halftime (46-25).
Milan was simply not competing and suddenly this changed in the third period.
The lead jumped to 22 points (49-27), and something clicked.
The biggest point difference of the game provoked a furious 25-7 run by the home team to trim the lead to four points (56-52) with two and a half minutes left in the quarter.
Plus Shane Larkin was in the locker room with an ankle injury having two points and six assists, before being forced to retire from the game.
The two teams entered the fourth period with Efes up by seven (66-59) and anything seemed possible.
However, Efes which had the advantage pushed again and made it a 14-point game (79-65) in four minutes after a three by Ronald Smits, and Milan couldn’t recover.
Photo credit: EuroLeague