The 25-year-old big man enjoyed personal bests in points, rebounds and index rating.
Ercan Osmani was Efes's X-factor in Riga
In a high-scoring Round 26 battle, Anadolu Efes Istanbul topped Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 105-91 in Riga, Latvia. Efes took advantage of a career-best effort from one of its players coming off the bench to take this important win.
Efes was without its two most recently signed big men, Dan Oturu and Mike Daum, so Ercan Osmani had an opportunity to see extended playing time and made the most out of it. Osmani stepped on the floor for the first time early in the second quarter and made things happen with 5 rebounds before halftime. Osmani added a put-back layup and a three-pointer to help Efes stay within 50-51 at halftime.
Osmani sat out in the third quarter and returned to action at the start of the fourth period. He found space for an uncontested layup, and soon added a jump hook in the lane and a backdoor basket to boost Efes's lead to 85-78, forcing Maccabi to call a much-needed timeout. He added a pair of free throws late in the game to round out a great individual performance.
Osmani finished the game with career-highs of 13 points, 7 rebounds and a PIR of 20. Before this game, he averaged 1.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and a PIR of 1.0 this season. Osmani only missed one shot against Maccabi, hitting 4 of 5 two-pointers, his only three-pointer and 2 foul shots.
"Now, I am a little bit tired because it has been a long time that I don't play like that," Osmani joked after the game. "First of all, I want to thank the fans to coming here and supporting us. I tried to help my team get the win. We were a little bit bad on defense. We need to improve more, I think, but managed to play well on offense and took the game."
Efes is 2-0 since longtime assistant Tomislav Mijatovic was promoted to the head coaching spot. Osmani proved that with a new coach come new opportunities, and that Efes's bench might be deeper that most people think despite its many injuries throughout the season. Only Shane Larkin and Darius Thompson have been able to play in all 26 EuroLeague games this season.