I an a game that could very well define the winner of the group, Efes Pilsen downed Montepaschi Siena in Istanbul with 60-58 behind a last second missed three-pointer by Nikos Zisis.
Efes Pilsen came strong into the court , taking the early lead and behind four points by Igor Rakocevic led by as far as seven points (11-4) four minutes into the game. Siena however had Milovan Rakovic in a good day and behind eight points from the Serbian big man, they managed to cut the Turkish side’s lead to one point (11-10). The two sides went hand in hand from then on for the remainder of the quarter that ended with 18-17.
In a poor scoring-wise second quarter, Siena managed to take the lead (23-25) with a two pointer by Rimas Kaukenas, yet Efes Pilsen reacted and went to the locker rooms being ahead with 29-27.
Efes Pilsen run a partial 8-2 in the beginning of the second have to take the first significant lead of the night (37-29), but Milovan Rakovic and Siena were not just ready to give up and came back to 39-35. Bootsy Thornton and Igor Rakocevic with three points apiece gave their team a double-digit lead (47-37), before Marco Carraretto did what he does best for the final 47-40 of the quarter, leaving everything open for the final period.
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The home team kept a comfortable lead until six minutes to time when the comeback of Siena sounded. The Italian sidecut the deficit to just one point with Ksistof Lavrinovic’s sole field goal halfway into the quarter. The game remained close, with Efes Pilsen maintaining a small lead until Nikos Zisis shot a three-pointer in the final minute for the 60-58. The hosts missed a double chance in the following offense, but Zisis failed to convert his last three-pointer into a game-winning one in the visitors’ final offensive play.
