The duo excelled in a fervent atmosphere to put the home team back on track
Crvena Zvezda leaned on Petrusev, Canaan to bounce back against Monaco
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Regular Season
Round 22 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade got back to winning ways with a huge 88-82 overtime home defeat of AS Monaco, as Filip Petrusev and Isaiah Canaan combined for 49 points to put behind them Wednesday’s tough 91-96 loss against the visiting Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.
A fired-up Petrusev racked up a career-high 29 points to go with 6 boards, replicating a vintage performance from the reverse fixture in the principality, when Zvezda also came out on top, 90-98, with the versatile big man posting 25 points and 7 rebounds.
Livewire guard Canaan added 20 points on Friday, including a clutch layup which forced overtime before draining a three-pointer on Zvezda's opening play in the extra session which gave the galvanized Serbian team the lead for good, 79-76.
The rollercoaster swung one way and then the other, but Zvezda found an extra gear in the home stretch to keep its postseason ambitions alive, as Joel Bolomboy also stood out with 15 points and 5 boards.
Petrusev heaped praise on Zvezda’s fervent 20,000 home crowd which carried the home side from start to finish, having also highlighted the team’s mettle and fighting spirit to prevail in the face of adversity.
“A great team victory as it was really a dogfight,” Petrusev said in his postgame comments. “We showed character as the crowd pushed us, all 20,000 of them showed their love for us. Monaco are offensively really talented and we did a great job stopping their main players, especially the three guards. Much better defense than the last game [against Fenerbahce] and that was the key to victory.”
Canaan added: “The mindset was to play tougher defense and we showed at times that we can be a really good team.”
Monaco’s pack leader Mike James had put the visitors in the driving seat in the final minute when he sank a trademark layup to give them a 74-76 lead but missed on the buzzer after Canaan had tied the score. James, who scored 14 points, was 0 of 7 from downtown and Elie Okobo also struggled all night as he was held to a mere 6 points on 1-of-8 shooting from the floor.
Zvezda’s aggressive hustle and half-court pressure generated 11 steals and the visitors simply ran out of steam in overtime, as their firepower dried up in the wake of the Serbian side’s ironclad defense.
The outcome was a gratifying for Zvezda’s head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos as it gave him some bragging rights over Greek compatriot Vassilis Spanoulis, who bemoaned his team’s momentary defensive lapses which allowed the hosts to force the final twist.
Sfairopoulos could not stress enough the magnitude of the result, which kept Zvezda in a cluster of five teams on a 13 wins heading into the final third of the regular season.
“It was a very important game for both teams, especially for us after losing our last home game,” a delighted Sfairopoulos said courtside. “Congratulations to the players as it’s one of the most important wins of the season for us.”