Reigning champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul got back to its winning ways by knocking off Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 87-72 at home on Tuesday night. Efes broke the game open with a 12-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters and gave up just 10 points in the final frame to snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 7-8.
Efes pulls away late to beat Baskonia, 87-72
Last season’s Most Valuable Player Vasilije Micic paced Efes with 24 points while his dynamic backcourt partner Shane Larkin collected 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Tibor Pleiss stepped up as well with 17 points and Adrien Moerman chipped in 15 points. Baskonia failed to build on its big win last week against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and dropped to 5-10 with its eighth loss in the last nine games. Jayson Granger and Simone Fontecchio score 17 points each in the loss and Wade Baldwin IV added 10 points.
Related Videos
Tadas Sedekerskis had a steal and layup to start the scoring for the visitors with Moerman answering at the other end. Steven Enoch added 4 points and Baskonia led 2-8 early. Granger chipped in 2 three-pointers and it was 8-16. Pleiss countered with 4 quick points only to see Baldwin’s triple extend the gap to 13-21 after 10 minutes.
Rodrigue Beaubois opened the second quarter with the first 5 points before Granger drained a triple after more than 2 minutes. A Micic three-pointer trimmed the margin to 23-24. Lamar Peters and Granger hit from deep as Baskonia pushed ahead 25-32. The three-pointers continued to rain with Larkin and Micic connecting in a 10-2 Efes run to take the lead, 35-34. The lead changed hands four times the rest of the quarter and Efes went into the locker room up 43-42.
Efes continued its sharpshooting early in the second half with Larkin and Moerman knocking down long balls in an 8-1 start for a 51-43 cushion. Sedekerskis and Fontecchio combined for all 11 points in a 2-11 Baskonia run to reclaim the lead, 53-54. Efes punched right back with 10 of the next 12 points to move ahead 63-56 and the gap was 66-62 after 30 minutes.
Pleiss opened the final frame with a dunk and Micic hit a triple in a 9-0 start for a 75-62 cushion. Rokas Giedraitis finally got the guests on the board after more than 4 minutes. But Pleiss kept going with 7 more points - including a triple - and a block as the gap extended to 82-66 with 3 minutes to play. Granger and Peters both hit from deep in the closing minutes to make the final result look a bit more bearable.