By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes needed a big road win to keep their hopes for a post-season birth, and Shane Larkin saved the day.
The iconic Efes guard and former back-to-back EuroLeague champion had 25 points and the biggest shot of the game to lead his team to the 97-92 road triumph over Bayern Munich.
Rodrigue Beaubois also scored 23 points, 21 of them in the first half, but in the end, Larkin once more made things happen.
Thanks to this result, Efes is tied with Real Madrid and Partizan between the 10th and the 12th spot of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings, while Bayern dropped to 17-12 and is tied with Monaco in the fourth place.
As Larkin said: “Today, there were two teams on the court fighting for the Playoffs, we stayed together as a team and despite our opponent’s streaks, we were the winners. We are now in Playoff mode, we know we have to win every match in front of us. We go into every match with the same mentality. We went out on the court today and completed our job.”
Carden Edwards and Nick Weiler-Babb scored 18 points each for the losing side, with Weiler-Babb losing the chance to tie the score in the crucial last seconds.
Larkin decided the game
With Beaubois scoring 16 points in the first period, Efes opened the game with a 26-17 lead, which was extended to 30-17 at the start of the second quarter.
Efes pushed the lead to 14 (33-19) after a three by PJ Dojier, and the halftime score was 51-37, with the guests keeping their distance, Beaubois scoring 21 points in 16 minutes of action and Larkin adding 11.
Bayern opened the second half with 11 unanswered points to make it a three-point game (51-48). Efes got the lead back to nine points (60-51), but Bayern got the momentum and, with one more 11-0 run, got the lead for the first time since the start of the game.
Τhe hosts closed the third quarter up by two points (67-65), and with one minute left, the score was tied at 90.
Shane Larkin with a big three made the score 93-90 for Efes, Bayern missed four straight three pointer attempts by Obst and Edwards and practically the game was over.
The two teams exchanged two made free throws by Elias Harris and Larkin (95-92), and with eight seconds on the clock, Nick Weiler-Babb missed one more three which could have tied the game.
PJ Dojier at the buzzer made the final score 97-92, and Efes got a big win.