Playing on the road against the Spanish side Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz at the first week match of Turkish Airlines Euroleague, Anadolu Efes was defeated 84-85. Anadolu Efes was leading 51-49 at the halftime of the match, played at Fernando Buesa Arena.
Starting the match with Granger, Cotton, Cedi, Brown and Dunston, Anadolu Efes’s first points were scored by Cedi from the foul line. Trailing 6-12 into the fourth minute with Dunston’s field goals from the paint, Efes had a three-pointer by Cedi and another field goal by Dunston, behind 11-15 past the fifth minute. Pulling up for the first time in the match with five points by Cotton in the sixth minute, Efes was leading 16-15. Ahead 21-19 into the final two minutes of the quarter with Granger and Cedi’s points, Efes was up 27-25 at the end of the first 10 minutes following Cotton, Omic and Thomas’s points. Starting the second quarter with Heurtel’s layup, Anadolu Efes was leading 38-32 in the 13th minute with nine points by Brown when the home team called a timeout. As the home team cut the lead to one point within one minute following the timeout, it was Perasovic who called a timeout this time. Following our timeout when Efes was trailing by one point in the 15th minute, high-scoring Brown scored five points to put Efes up 43-39 in the 16th minute. Scoring with Granger, Cedi and Heurtel in the final two minutes of the half, Anadolu Efes went to the locker room leading 51-49 at the halftime.
As Brown’s perimeter field goal opened the score sheet for Efes in the second half, we were leading 59-58 past the 24th minute following Granger and Cedi’s points from the paint. Ahead 62-59 past the 26th minute with Dunston’s field goal and-one, Efes increased the lead to six points in the 28th minute with Heurtel, Honeycutt and Cotton’s points: 68-62. Getting three points by Thomas and two points by Omic in the final minutes of the quarter, Anadolu Efes was leading 73-68 while heading into the final quarter. After Granger scored our first point in the final quarter from the foul line, Efes was down 74-79 in the 34th minute following the opposition’s points. Following the timeout at this minute, Cotton got two accurate free throws and cut the lead down to three points: 76-79. Trailing 76-83 into the final 3:30 minutes of the match, Anadolu Efes had a mini scoring run of 6-0 with Thomas and Dunston, bringing the margin down to one point with 1:30 left: 82-83. With two points by Cotton from the foul line, Anadolu Efes tied the game 84-84 with 22 seconds left in the match. Unable to score in the remaining 4.9 seconds following a single accurate free throw from the opponent, Anadolu Efes left the court defeated 84-85.
