Barcelona vs Partizan

After a couple of losses, Barcelona got a much-needed “W” in EuroLeague. Partizan Mozzart Bet could not find an offensive groove as the hosts got an easy 79-68 victory.

Nicolas Laprovittola led the way for Barcelona with 13 points. The home team held Partizan to only 11 points in the second quarter, and that was the story of the game.

Despite a 21-17 start for Partizan, Barcelona was leading at halftime by seven (39-32) and never looked back after that.

Tomas Satoransky had 11 points for the winning side which had a balanced offensive effort since the Czech and the Argentinian guards were the only players in double digits.

Danilo Andjusic scored 23 points, all in the second half, but his team was trailing by 15 (64-49) at the end of the third period and couldn’t mount a comeback.

Partizan also proved to be unlucky, since Alen Smailagic who started the season injured, also left the game with a broken finger.

Anadolu Efes vs Armani Milano

It was quite clear before the tipoff that Anadolu Efes is on the rise, while AX Armani Exchange Milan has a lot of issues. However, nobody expected that Efes will get an 80-51 road win in Italy.

Will Clyburn with 24 points led the charge for the winners in a game that was tied at halftime (34-34) and ended up being a one-team show.

Maz Mitrou Long with 10 points was the only scorer in double digits for the hosts who had 5/32 threes and finished the game with just 2/4 free throws.

On the other hand, Efes had 14/25 threes (56%) and dominated the second half with a partial 46-17 score in their favor, making the game torture for the home side, with Messina admitting that he is even thinking of resigning in order to wake up the team.

Milan was missing Shavon Shields, Stefano Tonut, Billy Baron, and Luigi Datome but still, their second-half performance was a disaster as they dropped to a 3-6 record, while Efes surpassed them at 4-5.

Real Madrid vs Valencia

Dzanan Musa scored a EuroLeague career-high 28 points and grabbed six rebounds as Real Madrid beat Valencia 80 – 73 on the road to capture its fourth straight win in the competition.

Musa produced the lot while only taking two free throws. He made 10-13 on 2-pointers and 2-5 triples while pitching in two assists and two steals.

Sam Van Rossom had 17 points, including 11 in the fourth period, and Bojan Dubljevic scored 15 for a Valencia team that was without leading scorer and passer Chris Jones (discomfort). After trailing by double figures for the larger part of the game and being down 16 in the third period, the Taronja managed to come back and make it 71 – 74 thanks to a triple by Van Rossom with 1:06 to play. Real responded with a 0-6 run to avoid any troubles.

Gabriel Deck contributed 16 points plus 10 rebounds and Petr Cornelie scored all of his 10 points in the first half. The latter and Musa were the main responsibles for Real being up 43 – 59 near the end of the third quarter before Valencia’s comeback efforts.

Alba Berlin vs Crvena Zvezda

Luca Vildoza and Nemanja Nedovic totally changed what you would expect from Crvena Zvezda and Dusko Ivanovic on the bench provided the extra spark for a change.

The end result was the overtime 88-84 win in Berlin over ALBA.

Vildoza finished the game with 21 points, Nedovic added 16, and Luka Mitrovic was solid as usual with 15 as Zvezda tied ALBA with a 3-6 record.

Jaleen Smith with 23 points almost won the game for the hosts, however, neither he nor his teammates could make a difference in the overtime while finishing the game with 13/25 free throws.

Despite playing on the road, Zvezda didn’t let ALBA get far ahead and tied the score at 55 thanks to an Ognen Dobric shot with one minute left in the third period. ALBA entered the last period leading by two (57-55) and the game was already a dogfight.

The Serbs got the 65-64 lead thanks to Nikola Ivanovic with five minutes left in the game, still, Smith answered back with two big threes (70-65) and ALBA had momentum again.

The hosts’ lead jumped to seven points (72-65) with Ben Lammers scoring two free throws, but Zvezda managed to keep their composure and make a two-point game again (72-70). And that was not the end of it.

Luka Vildoza with a big three gave Zvezda the lead (75-74) with less than two minutes left. The score was tied by Yovel Zoosman who made one free throw and Zvezda had the chance to win it with a final possession of eight seconds. They didn’t, but they were ready to finish the job in overtime.

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Olympiacos

On a test of mental strength, Maccabi managed to close the game the right way and beat previously perfect on-the-road Olympiacos with the final score being 90-84.

Wade Baldwin with 22 points was the top scorer of the winning side, Lorenzo Brown added 16 points and six assists, while Jarell Martin proved to be the key with big shots down the stretch and 13 points.

John DiBartolomeo also added 11 points and seven rebounds for the hosts who dominated the boards with 40 against 26 for Olympiacos.

Olympiacos got a career-high of 21 points by Giannoulis Larentzakis, a double-double by Sasha Vezenkov (17 p. 10 r.), 15 points by Kostas Sloukas, and 13 by Kostas Papanikolaou but they were not enough.

It was a close game during the first half with Olympiacos leading most of the time. However, in the third period, the Reds got a 10-point advantage (56-46) for the first time, with Vezenkov having 14 points and Papanikolaou adding 10 without missing a shot up to this point.

Maccabi trimmed the lead to six (56-50) after an unsportsmanlike foul by Isaiah Canaan, but Olympiacos answered back with a quick 5-0 run to make it an 11-point game (61-50).

Thanks to a buzzer-beating three by Bonzie Colson which were his only points of the game, Maccabi entered the last period trailing again by six (69-63), and Jarell Martin with one more three got his team into sticking distance (69-66).

The hosts kept pushing and with six minutes they finally got a 73-71 with Martin again hitting the three to complete a 10-2 run. The answer came from Larentzakis with another three (74-73) and Lorenzo Brown gave to Maccabi the lead again with – what else – one more three (76-74).

The hosts never lost the lead again, jumping to an 80-74 lead and that was the end of it. Olympiacos didn’t give up, and Larentzakis made two more big threes, but Maccabi players also had their share of big plays, including a big block of Roman Sorkin to Vezenkov.

Maccabi now has a 5-4 record, while Olympiacos dropped to 6-3.

Fenerbahce vs AS Monaco

Fenerbahce Beko saw AS Monaco coming back from a 19-point deficit before escaping with a  96 – 93 away win to improve its EuroLeague-best record to 8-1.

Nigel Hayes-Davis scored a season-high 21 points and grabbed five rebounds in arguably his best performance with the Fener jersey. He also drained a key pair of free throws for the 91 – 94 with 16 seconds remaining.

Monaco leading scorer (18 points) Jordan Loyd hit 2-2 from the line when Fenerbahce fouled to prevent a potential game-tying shot and then Marko Guduric also made both of his free throws. On the other end, Mike James misfired from downtown and Monaco suffered its second straight EuroLeague loss and third consecutive overall.

Monaco trailed 54 – 73 with a minute remaining in the third quarter but the combined efforts of Alpha Diallo (10 out of his 16 points in the fourth period, plus five rebounds), Elie Okobo (eight points in the final period, 12 overall) led an almost complete turnaround for the hosts. Okobo hit a triple for the 89 – 92 with 1:22 to play, putting Monaco at a shooting distance for the first time after the mid of the second period.

Donta Hall tipped the ball in to put Monaco even closer, 91 – 92, but Fenerbahce held on by making the key free throws in the last seconds.

Nick Calathes had 15 points plus seven assists for Fenerbahce that led for the entire game after the first period and had a furious third quarter (22-34) before Monaco’s comeback. Scottie Wilbekin contributed 13 points and seven dimes of his own while Carsen Edwards scored 12. James finished with 17 points (4-14 shots) and seven assists for Monaco.