CSKA beat Fenerbahce in the first quarter-final game of the EuroLeague with a score of 95-76.
It was a convincing win for CSKA, but the team from Istanbul was fighting till the last quarter. Fenerbahce came to Russia without five players and coach Igor Kokoškov because of Covid-19, and Jan Vesely was out because of the injury.
Even though his team didn’t grab the first road win, Nando De Colo had a historical night. The Frenchman moved past Paulius Jankunas of Zalgiris Kaunas into second place for career performance index rating points. Vassilis Spanoulis of Olympiacos Piraeus is the all-time leader for now.
Fenerbahce opened the match perfectly. Nando De Colo was leading the squad with 12 points after 8 minutes. In that period, CSKA was behind by 6 points. Eventually, the home team made a 13-2 scoring run and led after the first quarter by five (28-23).
In the second quarter, CSKA took control of the match. In one moment, Dimitris Itoudis’ squad led by 13. Fener trailed by 9 points (53-44) after the first half.
The Turkish powerhouse started the third quarter with a 12-2 run and announced an interesting fight against CSKA. Marko Gudurić with two threes was the most responsible for his team’s two-point lead after the third quarter (64-66).
All Fenerbahce dreams were crashed when Daniel Hackett’s and Semen Antonov’s threes announced the furious ending of the home team. CSKA finished that quarter with 28-10 and protected the home court in the first game. The next clash between these two squads will be on Friday and the Russian team will be hosting the team from Istanbul again.
Will Clyburn and Daniel Hackett with 20 points each were leading CSKA to its first quarter-final victory. Johannes Voigtmann added 12 with 10 rebounds (5/5).
Nando De Colo was Fenerbahce’s leader with 27 points. His teammate Lorenzo Brown added 12. Both Marko Gudurić and Kyle Brandon O’Quinn finished the match with 11 points.
