By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Wade Baldwin was back in action for Fenerbahce BEKO, but his return was not combined with a win. Milan prevailed on the road (91-85) to make things interesting on the top of the standings.
Fenerbahce is now tied on the top with Paris, as both teams share an 9-3 record, while Milan is climbing the ladder at 6-6.
Nikola Mirotic with 29 points and nine rebounds was the leader of the Italians, Zach LeDay with 19 points was also great, while Neno Dimitrijevic added 15.
“I needed this, I wanted a big game on a big arena against the team which is playing probably the best basketball right now”, said Mirotic after the final buzzer, “I hope we will continue on the same direction. And I was also motivated to play against Nigel Hayes-Davis”.
Hayes-Davis scored six points and as LeDay said: “I wanted to be locked in on defense from the first moment against him and we made it”.
For Fenerbahce, Baldwin was the top scorer with 19 points, Arturs Zagars had 16 points and Tarik Biberovic contributed 15.
Milan dominating in the end
Milan had a great start, leading 21-14 after a three by Dimitrijevic and closing the first period up by five (24-19). With Mirotic scoring 10 early points, the Italians had an eight-point advantage (29-21) after 12 minutes of play,
Fenerbahce reacted, made it a one-point game (29-28) after two threes by Biberovic and tied it at 37 with Kem Birch scoring.
Still Milan closed the first half leading 41-37, only for Fenerbahce to start the second with a 7-0 run and get the lead back (44-41).
And then Mirotic took over. The Montenegrin star finished the third period having already 29 points to make the score 66-63 at the end of the third.
That set the stage for an impressive 17-5 run fore Milan which made the score 83-68 with two and a half minutes left in the game.
Fenerbahce managed to trim the lead in the end mainly thanks to Zagars, but the Italians got the win much easier than even their most fanatical supporter expected.
Photo credit: EuroLeague