Hosting Telekom at the last week match of the first half of Turkish Basketball League, Anadolu Efes was defeated 91-86 in the overtime with a regulation score of 77-77. Anadolu Efes was ahead 44-36 at the halftime of the match, played at Abdi İpekçi Arena.
Starting the match with Heurtel, Furkan, Perperoglou, Saric and Krstic, Anadolu Efes got an 8-2 lead in the first four minutes of the match with Krstic and Saric’s four points each. Ahead 8-7 at the TV timeout in the fifth minute, Anadolu Efes increased the lead with Saric, making it 13-7 at 6.30. With Heurtel’s three-pointer, Anadolu Efes got an 8-0 scoring run and forced the opponent to call a timeout: 16-7. Scoring with Furkan, Bjelica and Deniz in the remaining three minutes after the timeout, Anadolu Efes finished the first 10 minutes ahead 23-11. Starting the second quarter with Deniz’s layup, Efes made it 27-17 with Bjelica at 12.30. Despite the opponent making it 27-25 to bring the score deficit down to two points at 16.30, Anadolu Efes kept scoring with Krstic, Janning and Saric, leading 44-36 at the halftime.
Opening the page with two accurate free throws in the second half, Janning increased the lead to 10 points in the 21st minute: 46-36. Making it 52-43 at 26.30 with Bjelica, Cedi and Deniz’s points, Efes increased the lead to 13 points in the 27th minute with Furkan’s nice layup followed by Cedi’s points in the paint: 56-43. After getting a three-pointer by Furkan followed by points in the paint by Saric and Deniz, Heurtel hit two free throws to settle the score of the third quarter: 65-51. As Furkan scored our first field goal in the final quarter, the score was 67-53 in favor of Anadolu Efes in the 31st minute. After the opponent’s scoring run to make it 67-65 in the 35th minute, bringing the lead down to two points, Krstic and Cedi’s scoring helped us towards a score of 73-68 with three minutes left to the end of the match. As the opponent was ahead 74-73 with 1.16 left to the end of the match, Efes respondend with Bjelica and Janning, concluding the regulation tied, 77-77.
Starting the overtime with Heurtel’s three-pointer, Anadolu Efes was down 81-80 passing through the 42nd minute. With Bjelica’s three-point play helped by an and-one, the score was tied with 1.14 left to play: 83-83. Trailing 88-83 with 32 seconds to play, Bjelica hit a three-pointer to bring the deficit down to two points with 22 seconds left to play: 86-88. Unable to reclaim the lead in the remaining duration, Anadolu Efes left the court defeated 91-86.
