By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In the first game of the Turkish League for 2017, Fenerbahce beat Anadolu Efes 81 – 75 in “Ulker Arena” and caught up with them at the first place of the standings.
The trio of Bobby Dixon (18 p.), Kostas Sloukas (17 p. 7 a.) and Luigi Datome (16 p. 5 r.) paced the winning side along with Ekpe Udoh who neared the double-double (9 p. 9 r.).
Thomas Heurtel dropped 20 points for Anadolu Efes, Cedi Osman added 14 (albeit on a 5/16 field goal shooting), Bryant Dunston 11 plus 5 rebounds and Jayson Granger 11 points as well.
Their efforts weren’t enough though. Fenerbahce had already taken a 41 – 34 advantage at halftime and then managed to preserve it by striking decisive blows at every attempt its opponents made to take the lead.
When coach Obradovic’s players made it 79 – 70 with 2 minutes to go, it was more or less over in their favor since Efes wasn’t strong enough to recover from this deficit.