By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
A big three-pointer by Pero Antic (12 points), with 70 seconds to go, helped Fenerbahce beat Panathinaikos 82-75 at home, despite the Greens’ effort to escape from Istanbul with a big victory.
For the winners, five players scored in double figures, with Ekpe Udoh being tremendous with 16 points and seven rebounds. On the other hand, James Gist and Miroslav Raduljica both scored 14 points for the losing squad.
Fenerbahce made a great start to the game and immediately took a 14-point lead (14-0), as the Greens were playing very badly defensively. The Turks comfortably retained their double-digit advantage (19-9, 27-13) and closed the first quarter in front by 10 (28-18). Later, things didn’t change much, as the hosts had control of the game (31-21, 43-35), but Panathinaikos responded, made a 3-8 run and cut the deficit to just three points after 20 minutes in the game (46-43).
In the second half, Sasa Djordjevic’s players continued to execute very well both offensively and defensively and managed to earn a slight advantage (56-58), however Fenerbahce regained the lead at the end of the third quarter (62-58), behind a 6-0 run. In the last quarter, the match continued to be close (66-63, 70-66, 75-72), but Antic hit a big three-pointer, brought the lead back to double digits (82-72) and secured an important, yet difficult, win for his team, as the Greeks ran out of time and couldn’t make a come-back.