Anadolu Efes Istanbul battled past Panathinaikos on Friday to improve their record to 3-2 for the new EuroLeague season.
ADVERTISEMENTAnadolu Efes Istanbul battled past Panathinaikos on Friday to improve their record to 3-2 for the new EuroLeague season.
Panathinaikos were seeking their fifth win from six meetings with the Istanbul club in the competition and they got off to the better start. By half time were 42-35 in front.
Anadolu Efes came out in better shape after the break and had pulled level at 53-all at the conclusion of the third quarter.
It remained neck and neck from then on and with the score level at 70-70 the game went into overtime.
Even an additional five minutes couldn’t separate the sides and for only the 11th time in the competition’s history a double-overtime was needed to decide the winner.
Panathinaikos began to run out of steam and Efes took full advantage to seal a 93-91 victory.
Thomas Huertel led the winners with 17 points.
Elsewhere on the night, Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz finally picked up their first win over Crvena Zvezda following four straight defeats.
Baskonia took control of the game early on and never looked back.
They lead the Zagreb club by as many as 14 points and never allowed their opposition to come closer than five.
Baskonia held their Serbian hosts to only 2 points in the final six minutes of the game to eventually run away with a 70-63 victory – their second consecutive road win of the season.
Shane Larkin paced the winners with 16 points, six assists and four steals while Rodrigue Beaubois also netted 16 points.
The win improved the Spanish club’s Euroleague record this campaign to 3-2, while Zvezda dropped to 2-3.