CSKA Moscow survived without their two leading scorers Nando De Colo and Milos Teodosic to overcome EA7 Milano 79-64 in round eleven of the EuroLeague.
With De Colo still out due to injury and Teodosic shelved due to fatigue, CSKA were understandably slow to begin with, even trailing 38-36 at the half. But they exploded out of the gates in the third quarter and held Milano to just 26 points in the second half to get the win and improve to 10-1.
“It’s acceptable to lose to CSKA, but it’s not acceptable to lose playing a second half like we did tonight,” said a disgruntled Milan coach Jasmin Repesa. “The start of the third quarter was significant: two consecutive forced threes by [Andrea] Cinciarini and [Zoran] Dragic. And we stopped playing defence.”
CSKA guard Aaron Jackson stepped up in the absence of their two stars to get 14 points, which was equalled by team-mate Dmitry Kulagin on a career night for him.
“[Teodosic] is out; he’s done a lot for us, him and De Colo. It’s our job,” Jackson said. “When those players go down or need rest, it’s our job. We’re CSKA.
“We have to step up for them and that’s exactly what we did tonight. We played basketball real well as a team today. We moved the ball. Not only that, they averaged 90 points at home, we held them to 64 points. A great defensive effort.”
Teenage prodigy Luka Doncic came up with some clutch plays as his Real Madrid side bested Zalgiris 96-91 in the Spanish capital.
With the game still tied at 86-86, Doncic stepped up with 1:36 remaining to bury a long triple and score eight of the hosts last ten points that ultimately settled the tie. The 17-year-old Slovenian had 17 points to lead Real.
“We have to work hard for every game in EuroLeague,” Doncic said. I am happy for the team, and we did great. I am really young, but I think Pablo Laso is a great coach, and he trusts me.”
Zalgiris got 19 points from Kevin Pangos, as they fall to 3-8.
Fenerbahce made it four wins in a row as they eased past Crvena Zvezda 87-72 at the Ulker Sports Arena.
Ekpe Udoh led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds in the comfortable win as the Turkish side improves to 8-3.
“We had a good game,” Udoh said. “We have to continue to get better, continue to build. We had a letdown in the second half that we can’t have if we want to be that top team at the end. We just have to continue to get better and get ready for next week. It’s always good to play at home. The fans give us a lot of energy , it’s second to none.”
