Darussafaka Dogus set up a final day showdown with Crvena Zvezda after they edged Brose Bamberg after overtime 99-97 in a pulsating encounter in northern Germany.
Brad Wanamaker scored eight of his career-high and club-record 30 points in overtime to beat his former club with an able supporting cast of Adrien Moerman, who posted 19 points and 12 rebounds and Luke Harangody, who added 10 points, including a clutch three-pointer that tied the game with 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
“Great win for our team,” said Wanamaker.
“We need this one, we got one more to make the Playoffs. It felt great to be back home in Bamberg. The fans welcomed me. It was great competing against my old teammates, coaches. It was great to be here. [Coach told us at halftime that] We needed to toughen up. We needed to win this game, so I think we had a little pressure, we played a little tight and in the second half we just loosened up and played our game and came away with the victory.”
The winner of next week’s showdown in Istanbul will clinch the eighth and final seed for the post-season.
Anadolu Efes shook off a rough start to beat Olympiacos 77-69 that keeps their chances of moving higher in the standings alive.
After that rough start, a 16-0 run in the second quarter turned the tide of the match and allowed Anadolu Efes to take control for good despite late challenges by the Reds.
French guard Thomas Heurtel busted out of a slump with 18 points and five assists for the winners. Tyler Honeycutt added a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, plus a career-high six assists.
“We started the game very bad,” admitted Heurtel. “From end of the first quarter, we controlled the game until the end. Our coach asked us to be aggressive, so we went to the basket aggressively and got a lot of free throws. We played a great game.”
Barcelona ended their EuroLeague home fixtures on a high note by downing Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 76-71 at the Palau Blaugrana.
With the win Barcelona improved its record to 12-17, while it dropped Maccabi to 10-19 with one game to go. Maccabi was without point guards D.J. Seeley and Yogev Ohayon, in addition to the usual absentees Andrew Goudelock and Quincy Miller.
Ante Tomic paced Barcelona’s offence with 15 points, six assists and six rebounds, but despite the game never being tied after the tip off, Maccabi kept hanging around and made a charge in the final five minutes. However, Barcelona held on to victory in its final EuroLeague game in front of its fans.
