Fenerbahce secured what could be a vital league double over CSKA Moscow in Istanbul tonight.
Ekpe Udoh returned from injury to post 15 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks steer Fenerbahce to a 77-71 victory over the Muscovites to close the gap at the top.
Fenerbahce move into fourth spot temporarily. Crvena Zvezda can move back into the top four if they beat Anadolu Efes on Friday.
“[The fans] have been waiting for this win since last year,” Udoh said.
“It was a great win. It was a total team effort. Glad to get this win at home. We just have to keep getting better, keep getting better at finishing.
“[Defence] is what we hang our hats on, that’s what we’re known for. But at the same time, we’ve had our struggles throughout the year with scoring. That’s something we have to continue to work on.”
CSKA miss their chance to go back to the top spot. Real Madrid could extend their lead if they beat Baskonia on Friday.
Zalgiris inflicted more misery on Barcelona’s EuroLeague season by registering a 89-85 win in Kaunas.
It’s the Lithuanian side’s third straight win as they now move into tenth, while Barcelona are 12th.
The game featured countless lead changes and ties, and neither team had a lead bigger than six points until the final two minutes.
However, a pair of fourth quarter runs, first a 9-0 spurt and then an 11-2 burst gave Zalgiris the lead for good.
“I think we wanted the win more than Barcelona,” stated Lukas Lekavicius, who had 17 points for Zalgiris.
The crowd was amazing, it was like our sixth player. We did a good job on offence. Our defence was not good, we made some mistakes, but on offence we put the ball where we wanted and made some shots. That was the key.”
Edgaras Ulanovas also had 17 points for Zalgiris, a season-high for him.
Olympiacos made it ten wins from their last 12 with a routine 90-75 win over Unics Kazan at Basket Hall.
Erick Green led the winners with 25 points, and Georgios Printezis added 20 as the Reds took charge early in the first quarter, eventually leading to a 33-13 cushion which killed the game as a contest.
“Overall, we played great team defence,” Green said afterwards.
“I am just really excited about the win. We have to get ready for the next game. My teammates just gave me the ball and Coach drew up great plays. I have been shooting the ball well, staying in the gym and it all paid off.”
EA7 Milano came back from a 25-point deficit to stun Darussafaka Dogus 89-87 in the fashion capital.
Midway through the third quarter, the visitors led 68-43 and seemed certain to end a two-game losing streak, but then Davide Pascolo and Krunoslav Simon inspired an amazing recovery from a Milan team that looked dead on its feet.
Milan won the final 15 minutes 46-19 to complete a season sweep over Darussafaka, improving to 7-14 in the standings, while Darussafaka dropped to 10-11 and hanging onto a place in the top half of the standings by a thread.
Pascolo and Simon led the home team’s scorers with 15 points each.
“It was an incredible comeback,” Pascolo admitted. “We had a great reaction when down by more than 20 points. It was mental effort but it took also a lot of energy. We didn’t give up. It was emotional. It was awesome.”
Janis Strelnieks shot a perfect 10/10 from the field for 25 points as he guided Brose Bamberg to a 90-75 home success over Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv.
It was the visitors though who had the upper hand, leading for the majority of the first half, until Bamberg pulled clear in the third period to take a 66-53 cushion heading into the fourth as Maccabi fatigued.
Darius Miller added 17 points for the winners.
