Home Other Crvena Zvezda rout CSKA in Belgrade, EuroLeague Thursday round up

Crvena Zvezda rout CSKA in Belgrade, EuroLeague Thursday round up

Crvena Zvezda led from start-to-finish as they defeated CSKA Moscow 78-67 at the Kombank Arena in the heart of the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

The heart and energy of the 18,487-strong crowd at the venue for the 2018 EuroLeague Final Four resinated with the Red Star players as they scored the first 13 points of the game and never allowed CSKA to get near them.

Despite the loss though, CSKA remained atop the standings at 12-3 but they suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since the 2013-14 season. Ognjen Kuzmic paced the victors with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks and Marko Simonovic added 14 as Crvena Zvezda improved to 7-8.

“I think that this is one of the biggest wins for us and I think it’s a great, great way to start the new year,” Kuzmic said. “We started playing defence from the beginning and we did it all 40 minutes and that was key for us. I feel great. We have the best fans here. They give us great energy and that’s a big plus for us.”

Andrey Vorontsevich made 5 of 9 three-pointers to lead CSKA with 21 points, however star guards Milos Teodosic and the returning Nando De Colo combined for just 12 points and eight turnovers in 45 minutes.

Olympiacos overcame Fenerbahce 71-62 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium to improve to 10-5.

Leading comfortably throughout the game, Olympiacos looked in control but Fenerbahce’s Bobby Dixon took it upon himself to bring the visitors back into the contest. The Turkish international drilled a three to narrow the deficit to 65-61 with two minutes left.

Olympiacos though weathered the storm to secure their tenth win of the season. Matt Lojeski paced the Piraeus side with 14 points.

“Tonight there is no doubt we deserved to win the game,” commented Olympiacos coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos. “With the way we approached the game, with the determination we had, we forced one very good team with very good experienced players to score just 21 points in the first half. We put our terms for the game, and until the end of the third period we dominated the game in both ends of the court.

“Of course, Fenerbahce is a very good team, they tried to react. We saw they scored a lot of easy points at the moment when we were not moving the ball on offence, and we were not finding the best option to shoot. But at the end, we were very focused and with two, three good defences, and two, three good offenses on the other side, we got a good enough lead and good enough difference for this type of the game. Congrats to all the players for the effort and desire they had for the game.”

Real Madrid also improved to 10-5 as late heroics by Luka Doncic and a game-winning block by Gustavo Ayon secured an 80-78 win at Anadolu Efes.

Doncic stepped up for the injured Sergio Llull, leading the winners with 17 points and nine assists. He had career-highs in assists and performance index rating (+31), while tying his best scoring night in the competition, too.

But, it was Ayon who came up with the clutch play to win the game as the Mexican stopped Thomas Heurtel with a big block with 3.2 seconds left.

“It was a hard game and truth to be told, we got a very good win,” Doncic said. “We played very good defence and that makes us happy. These are very important wins, because it is always more difficult to play on the road.

“We come off back-to-back losses and needed to feel good again, and we did that today. It was a great year and I expect the same from 2017. We want to win all titles available and really hope to do that.”

Zalgiris inflicted an eighth straight defeat for EA7 Milano as the Lithuanians won 78-70 in the fashion capital.

The Italians started the EuroLeague season 4-3 but now head into 2017 with a 4-11 record as they linger at the bottom of the standings.

Alturas Milaknis paced the winners with 16 points.

Baskonia ended 2016 by downing Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 101-88 in front of over 14,800 fans at Fernando Buesa Arena on Thursday.

The Liga Endesa side improved to 10-5 at the halfway mark of the EuroLeague, while Maccabi dropped to 5-10. Johannes Voigtmann paced the winners with a career-high 23 points and nine rebounds.

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