Hosting Telekom in the first match of the Turkish Basketball League play-off quarter finals, Anadolu Efes left the court victorious 88-71. Anadolu Efes was ahead 38-35 at the halftime of the match, played at Abdi İpekçi Arena.
With this result, Anadolu Efes is up 1-0 in the series. The second match of the series will be played at Ankara Arena at 16.00, on Saturday, May 23rd. Efes will make its way to the semi finals in case of a victory from this match.
Starting the match with Doğuş, Janning, Perperoglou, Saric and Lasme, Anadolu Efes got its first field goal with Janning’s three pointer. Trailing 8-3 passing through the third minute, Efes had another three pointer by Janning. With Doğuş and Janning’s points afterwards, Efes tied the game in the sixth minute: 11-11. Scoring with Cedi from the outside and with Emircan and Krstic from the inside within the remaining four minutes of the quarter, Anadolu Efes was behind 21-19 after the first 10 minutes. Starting the second quarter with Cedi’s field goal and an and-one, Efes pulled ahead for the first time in the match: 22-21. As Efes was ahead 29-25 while heading into the 14th minute with Birkan and Cedi’s points, Krstic’s slam dunk increased the lead to six points, forcing the opponent to call a timeout: 31-25. Following Heurtel’s single accurate free throw after the timeout, the opponent got nine points to make it 32-29 at 16.15, and coach Ivkovic called a timeout. After the timeout, Efes had points with Emircan and Lasme at 17.20, increasing the lead to nine points: 38-29. Unable to score in the remaining duration, Anadolu Efes managed to keep the lead 38-35 while heading into the locker room for halftime.
After Saric opened the score sheet for Efes in the second half, the score was 44-37 at 21.30 with Krstic and Heurtel’s points. Increasing the lead back to nine with Saric’s slam dunk, Efes was leading 46-37. When Janning hit a three pointer to make it 49-39 at 24.30, Efes had the highest lead in the match so far with 10 points. Ahead 58-45 with 2.45 to play in the quarter after Krstic and Saric’s points, Efes got points with Lasme, Perperoglou and Saric in the remaining duration, leading 65-55 while heading into the final quarter. With Saric and Janning scoring the first points of the quarter, Efes was leading 73-63 while passing through the 33rd minute. Ahead 76-63 after Birkan’s three pointer, Anadolu Efes got points by Krstic and Cedi, leading 80-67 in the 34th minute. Keeping ahead in the remaining duration, Anadolu Efes got field goals by Heurtel, Cedi and Cenk, and left the court victorious 88-71.
