By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Last night’s results booked Anadolu Efes‘ playoffs ticket and the Turks secured the home court advantage by beating Buducnost VOLI on the road while FC Bayern prevailed over FC Barcelona Lassa. The final score was 91-84 and Ergin Ataman’s players never felt real pressure on the court.
Efes proved once again that they are among the top teams of Europe, having five scorers in double-digits. Vasilje Micic with 18 points and six assists led the charge, the guests built a 27-19 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
“I’m proud of my players because with two weeks to go in the regular season we have guaranteed the fourth spot, which was our goal in the regular season”, said after the game coach Ergin Ataman. “Homecourt advantage is important but nothing is secure in the EuroLeague. Every game is like a final and we will play more finals before the Final Four, but we are playing good basketball this season.”
Efes led even by 22 points (62-40) at the start of the second half and the best that Buducnost did was to cut the lead to five (89-84) in the closing second of the game, but it was too little, too late.
Edwin Jackson scored 17 points and Goga Bitadze added 16 for the hosts, however, nor he or any of his teammates affected the outcome of the game.
As Buducnost’s coach Jasmin Repesa admitted: “The positive is that we never gave up trying to come back. If we are realistic about what happened on the court, the final score was the minimum difference.”
Photo credit: EuroLeague