Anadolu Efes, led by Will Clyburn and Shane Larkin, defeated Zalgiris at home in the seventh round of the EuroLeague by 86:82.
Anadolu Efes was without one of their best players, Elijah Bryant, in this match, while Zalgiris played with their full roster.
After a very slow start for the home team, Zalgiris got off to a better opening in the game and took a 10:4 lead, when the home team suffered another setback due to Erkan Yilmaz’s injury. Until the end of the first quarter, neither team managed to find the right solutions in their offense, and at the end of that period, the score was 14:13 in favor of Zalgiris.
The home team continued to play excellent defense and consistently increased their lead, mainly through Thompson and Larkin. As a result, they had a solid lead of 36:24 at the end of the first half.
The home team came out firing in the first three minutes of the third quarter, hitting three three-pointers through Thompson and Willis, and they reached a maximum lead of +18. However, they couldn’t maintain that lead, and the visitors, led by Dimsa and Smits, closed the gap to just -5 by the end of the third quarter.
The visiting team started a run, and with three-pointers from Butkevicius and Dimsa, they took the lead at 54:53. Both teams were on fire, with Keenan Evans making some impressive plays and connecting on some points, while Derek Willis, with two three-pointers, kept the home team in the lead.
Keenan Evans couldn’t miss in the closing moments, scoring 15 points in the final quarter and providing a “lifeline” for the visiting team. With 20 seconds remaining, he even scored the game-tying basket, and a missed shot for win by the home team’s Shane Larkin sent the game into overtime.
In overtime, Shane Larkin took matters into his own hands, scoring 5 points in four consecutive possessions and recording two crucial assists for the home team’s ultimate win.
The best player in the winning team was Will Clyburn with 20 points, followed by Darius Thompson with 17 and Shane Larkin with 14 points. In the losing team Keenan Evans stood out the most with 20 points, and also in double digits were Rolands Smits with 16, Tomas Dimsa with 15 points and Kevarrius Hayes with 13 points.
After this round, both teams have the same record of 3 wins and 4 losses.
In the next round, Anadolu Efes will be on the road to face Monaco, while Zalgiris will be visiting Panathinaikos in Athens.