By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
For 30 minutes Crvena Zvezda seemed capable for 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, and Rodrigue Beaubois had 11 points.
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 between the 7th and the 10th position, while Zvezda dropped to 8-8, one step behind in the 11th place.
A tale of two halves
Zvezda set the tone early, opening the game with 14-5 run and closing the first period up by 11 (25-14). Efes reacted with 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 with an 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 too k the lead (50-49).
The third period ended with Efes leading 59-57 after a three by Osmani and the hosts managed to extemded 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