By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Playing without Shane Larkin, in theory, Efes might be in trouble, but that was not the case against Real Madrid.
Efes got the 79-73 win and the tie-breaker advantage which may end up being valuable.
Thanks to this result Efes had a 12-13 record, while Real dropped to 13-12.
Elijah Bryant with 21 points, Vincent Poirier with 15 against his former team, and Darius Thomson with 12 points, five assists, and no turnovers led Efes to the home win.
“Real is a great team, but we had to win tonight, it was very important, we enjoyed it but we have another big game coming soon,” Bryant said, adding on Poirier: “He had to get his payback on Tavares, playing with him so long”.
On the other side, Mario Hezonja tried his best with 18 points, while Hugo Gonzalez and newcomer Bruno Fernando had 11 points each.
Efes closing the game the right way
Efes started the game with an 8-0 run and had the advantage for most of the first half, leading 25-17 after the end of the first period.
However, Hugo Gonzalez at the buzzer with a three tied the score at 38 and everything started from scratch in the second half.
Gonzalez again gave Madrid their first lead of the game (51-49) with five minutes left in the third period. The guests led even by five (61-56) at the end of the period, however, Efes was up by three (69-64) after a 13-3 run at the start of the fourth quarter.
Efes suddenly was firing at all cylinders, and with Bryant scoring 17 points, the hosts got again an eight-point advantage (75-67). Still, after back-to-back threes by Hezonja, Madrid trimmed the lead to two (75-73) with less than three minutes before the final buzzer.
Still, Real couldn’t get any closer and Hezonja was the only player of Real Madrid who scored in the last period.
Photo credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague