By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Darussafaka successfully held off the comeback of Anadolu Efes and sealed a close 85-81 home win in the Turkish league, confirming its great run this season once again.
Dacka was up 79-71 with less than three minutes remaining but Efes didn’t go down without a fight. Rodrigue Beaubois banked in two three-pointers to spark a comeback and Larkin added another one to close the gap to just one point (81-80) with ten seconds left.
Efes secured themselves a chance at victory but Isaiah Pineiro made all four of his free throws until the end for Darussafka which didn’t allow Efes to get a shot up, making sure the game was decided from the charity stripe.
Dogus Ozdemiroglu scored 19 points for the winning squad while Nathan Boothe and Gabriel Olaseni scored 15 each. Troy Caupain delivered an all-around display with 14 points, nine assists, and six boards.
For Efes, Bugrahan Tuncer was on fire with 25 points, including five threes, followed by Beaubois with 12 points.
By beating Efes, Darussafaka improved to 17-6 in second place of the standings while their opponent now holds a 17-5 record. Fenerbahce is still safe at the top with 20-4 after beating Besiktas earlier the same day.
Nando De Colo was the leading scorer with 24 points for Fener in the 90-81 win while Sehmus Hazer scored 18 and Melih Mahmutoglu 13 points.
On Besiktas’ side, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored 23, as did Kenan Sipahi. Hollis-Jefferson also grabbed nine boards and dished four assists.