By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes overcame Unics Kazan 99 – 92 in overtime behind a superb (24 points, 5 rebounds, 30 PIR) performance by Derrick Brown. The Turkish team is 13 – 11 and remains seventh in the EuroLeague standings.
Brown also hit what might’ve been the game-winner with 3 seconds left, if Keith Langford, Unics’ main gunman with 23 points, didn’t immediately respond with the mid-range jumper to force the OT.
What the power forward of Efes didn’t manage to do in regulation, he accomplished it in the extra period. With seven points, he helped his team make it 86 – 94 with 1:22 to go and there no way back after that.
The team from Kazan is now in the last place of the standings with a 7 – 17 victory/loss ratio. Langford‘s efforts, thanks to which he became only the third player in EuroLeague history with over 500 points in a single season weren’t enough, neither the double-double (16 points/10 rebounds) by Latavious Williams or the 16 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists by Quino Colom.
Unics had managed to recover from a 15-point deficit, 46 – 61 but couldn’t complete its comeback in overtime. Efes had more energy to respond in the extra five minutes, brought mainly by Bryant Dunston who was perhaps the unsung hero of his team with 16 points, 7 rebounds and strong presence on both ends.
Jayson Granger also did a fine job for Efes with 17 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.