Anadolu Efes came from behind to claim a narrow 84-79 victory over neighbours Darussafaka Dogus to score their first win this season in the EuroLeague at the fourth attempt.
They did so by coming back from 13 points down early in the third quarter as Anadolu trailed for all but four minutes of the contest. The winners rallied behind DeShaun Thomas, who scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, and Thomas Heurtel who also made key baskets down the stretch and finished with 15 points and nine assists.
“We are very happy,” Heurtel said. “On the road we got our first win. I think we played really good game in 2nd half. We showed our character, and need to play like this every game.
“It is beginning of the season, and we know we have a new team with a new coach. We lost some [close] games, like against CSKA and against Baskonia. Today we finished the game well, and I think it is the most important that we got the win.”
Darussafaka Dogus, led by 13 points from Scottie Wilbekin, drop to 2-2.
CSKA Moscow kept their unbeaten run going with a comfortable 98-80 win over fellow Russian side Unics Kazan in the country’s capital.
Milos Teodosic led the way for the Muscovites with a double-double of 16 points and 10 assists as the Serbian international took over ninth place on the EuroLeague’s all-time scoring list with 2,397 points, moving past former CSKA great J.R. Holden’s mark of 2,388 points.
Unics remain winless at 0-4, despite a EuroLeague career-high 36 points for Keith Langford.
Real Madrid bounced back from narrow loss at home to Baskonia by beating EA7 Milano 101-90 in the fashion capital.
Anthony Randolph led five Madrid players in double figures with 20 points as the Liga Endesa champions improve to 3-1.
Olympiacos grabbed their third straight win in the EuroLeague with a 95-90 win over Baskonia in Vitoria.
The Greek side improved to 3-1 while Baskonia dropped to 2-2. Vangelis Mantzaris led the winners with 17 points. Vassilis Spanoulis added 15 and a career-high 15 assists.
