By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
For 30 minutes Crvena Zvezda seemed capable of a big road win, but in the end, Efes prevailed 89-67 making things simple in the fourth quarter,
Elijah Bryant had one more good game with 17 points, Dan Oturu scored also 17, Ercan Osmani added 13 points, Rodrigue Beaubois had 11 points, and Shane Larkin dished 12 assists.
As Bryant said: “It starts with deflections on defense. Roddy [Beaubois] helped us out a lot there. When one guy starts getting deflections it motivates the other guys. It always starts on the defensive end, and then our defense will lead to offense.”
Playing without Milos Teodosic and Branko Lazic, but with Joel Bolomboy returning to action, Zvezda put on a fight with Filip Petrusev scoring 15 points and Codi Miller-McIntyre adding 10.
On top of the already-known injury woes, Ognen Dobric was hurt at the start of the fourth quarter.
Thanks to this result, the Turks have a 9-7 record and are tied with Panathinaikos, Barcelona, and Milan for the 7th and 10th positions, while Zvezda dropped to 8-8, one step behind in 11th place.
A tale of two halves
Zvezda set the tone early, opening the game with a 14-5 run and closing the first period up by 11 (25-14). Efes reacted by getting the ball inside to Oturu who managed to trim the lead to five (29-24) after a goal foul.
Zvezda weathered the storm, making it again a nine-point game (33-24); however, Efes‘s 10-2 run made it a one-point game (35-34).
Still, Zvezda closed the first half up by six (42-36) and opened the second with a three by Petrusev (45-36).
Efes once more turned things around with a 14-4 run which was completed with a three by Bryant, as the hosts took the lead (50-49).
The third period ended with Efes leading 59-57 after a three by Osmani and the hosts managed to extend the lead with a 13-0 start in the fourth (72-57) after four minutes of play with Beaubois stealing the ball back to back and scoring five points in transition.
There was no coming back after that for Zvezda, the hosts’ lead extended to 17 points (78-61) and the game was over.
Photo credit: EuroLeague