By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes played with fire until the last seconds, but thanks to Cedi Osman didn’t got burned. The players of coach Dusan Ivkovic got the 80-76 win that still keeps them alive in the playoffs race, over Cedevita.
A home defeat by a team with just 2 wins would have been a disaster, which was avoided in details. With the score 74-73 in favor of Anadolu Efes, Cedi Osman stole the ball from Miro Bilan and by making two free throws he gave a crucial 76-73 lead to his team with 7 seconds to go.
With both teams stopping the clock and getting to the free throws line, Jacob Pullen got his first shot in (78-76), missed the second with 3 seconds left on the clock hoping for a tip in by one of his teammates, but Osman got the rebound. He got fouled, made his free throws again and the game was over. The young gun of Anadolu Efes finished the night with 10 points and 2 rebounds. Thomas Heurtel was the best of Efes with 19 points, 8 assists and also 5 turnovers, a sign of a sloppy game in general, while Derrick Brown and Dario Saric added 12 points each.
After a great 28-20 start for Cedevita, the defense of Anadolu Efes balanced the game. The Turks let the guests score just 8 points in the second period, the half time lead of Cedevita was 36-34 and nothing changed until the end. The third quarter expired with the hosts trailing by one point (54-53) and almost until the last second the game was on the line.
Marko Arapovic and Nemanja Gordic made 16 points each for the losing side, Miro Bilan added 14 and James White scored 10.