By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Crvena Zvezda MTS Belgrade beat AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan on the road 91-88. With this win, Crvena Zvezda finished the first leg of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague with a 6-9 record.
This was a third time that these two teams met and it was the third victory for the Serbian club.
The Key: With one minute left on the clock, teams were tied at 83-83. James Feldeine hit a two-point shot, then Zvezda was up with a 4 point lead (87-83). Vladimir Micov quickly reacted with a three, making things hot. Feldeine was once again sent to the foul line converting both free throws. Mantas Kalnietis had a chance to tie the game with a triple on the last possession, but he missed and Zvezda won the game.
After being down by 17 points (37-20) in the first half Armani found the way to close the gap as they were trailing only 61-60 at the start of the last period. However, Zvezda once again found their shooting touch hitting three triples midway through the last quarter building a 72-64 lead with more than five minutes to go. Once again the Italians found the way to come back to the game as they were trailing 81-80 with two minutes left.
Crvena Zvezda clearly stated their intentions in the first quarter of the game. With James Feldeine feeling the heat and scoring 9 points in that period Zvezda built a more than comfortable lead 29-15 after the first ten minutes of the match.
However, the hosts made an 11-0 run in the second quarter to cut the lead to 41-38 with two minutes left in the first half. Despite the run, the home team made Zvezda was leading after the first half 45-40.
The Star: Milko Bjelica was leading the visitors with 18 points and 7 rebounds which was enough for 28 in PIR. That was his career-high in the Euroleague.
Not enough: Dairis Bertans was hot tonight hitting four triples from five attempts scoring 14 points for Armani, but it wasn’t enough. Vladimir Micov added 16 points, but that didn’t save the hosts as well.
With the sixth loss in the last seven games, Armani falls down to a 4-11 record.