The EuroLeague fun continues as we head towards the home straight of the regular season
Game Center: Zvezda wins the derby; Fener, Monaco, Oly all victorious
Article
8 Mins read
Friday, January 31, 2025
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 95-81 Virtus Segafredo Bologna
Fenerbahce grabbed its sixth straight win in the EuroLeague as it defeated the visiting Virtus at Ulker Sports and Event Hall on Friday evening. The hosts had to resist against Toko Shengelia’s career game in scoring, but better accuracy from the three-point line allowed them to keep their opponents at arm's length for almost the whole game. Fenerbahce improved to 16-7 while Virtus slipped to an opposite record of 7-17. Marko Guduric led the winners with 17 points, Errick McCollum followed with 15, Bonzie Colson had 12 and Sertac Sanli finished with 11 on a perfect 3 of 3 from behind the arc. Toko Shengelia registered a career night thanks to a 35-point performance, good for a PIR of 39, also a career best for him. Isaia Cordinier scored 12 and Matt Morgan netted 11 in the losing effort.
AS Monaco 77-73 Real Madrid
Monaco outlasted Real Madrid in a defensive battle on Friday night, triumphing 77-73 after limiting the visitors to 34 second-half points. The hosts improved to 15-9 to take sole ownership of third place, while Real stays outside the top six at 13-11. Monaco’s defense controlled the early stages, before Real hit a flurry of triples to move ahead, 36-39, at halftime. The home team retook the lead after the interval, Nick Calathes led Monaco’s offense with a double-double of 12 points and 10 assists, Matthew Strazel netted 13 points and Alpha Diallo added 10. Mario Hezonja led Real with 15 points but fouled out early in the fourth, while Sergio Llull scored 12, Andres Feliz had 11 and Walter Tavares scored 10.
Olympiacos Piraeus 92-89 Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Olympiacos got back to winning ways by beating Efes 92-89 on Friday night at the Peace and Friendship Stadium. The Reds led from start to finish and even secured an 83-65 cushion with 6:29 minutes remaining. Efes responded with a late 5-18 surge to get back into the game (90-87), but the hosts sealed the outcome from the free-throw line. The EuroLeague leader protected its home court and improved to 17-7, with Efes dropping to 11-13. Sasha Vezenkov led all scorers with 26 points, with Evan Fournier and Nikola Milutinov scoring 20 and 11, respectively. Elijah Bryant paced Efes with 21 points. Jordan Nwora and PJ Dozier netted 12 apiece, with Dan Oturu adding 10.
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 71-73 Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade
Never before has the Belgrade derby taken place this deep into the regular season, but Nemanja Nedovic – as he did in the first-ever EuroLeague Belgrade derby – became the hero for Crvena Zvezda by scoring the points that won the game against Partizan, with Ioannis Sfairopoulos's men downing Zeljko Obradovic's side 71-73. This win improved Crvena Zvezda's record to 14-10 while Partizan dropped to 12-12. Partizan does hold the tiebreaker advantage, however, after winning by 12 points when they met back in Round 11. Filip Petrusev led Crvena Zvezda in points with 17, followed by Joel Bolomboy with 14. Both players also pulled down 8 rebounds. Codi Miller-McIntyre paired 11 points with 6 assists for the winners. Carlik Jones was the only Partizan player to score in double figures, netting 20 points.
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Zalgiris Kaunas 82-97 FC Bayern Munich
There was no stopping Bayern’s offense at Zalgirio Arena as Gordie Herbert’s squad romped to an 82-97 victory at Zalgiris to kick off the Round 24 fun. This is the seventh time this season that Bayern has scored 97 points or more, and the second game in succession after grabbing an 84-99 win at ALBA last week. Bayern, riding a two-game winning streak, led by 12 entering the fourth was up by as many as 18 in the final 51 seconds. The German side improved to 14-10, while Zalgiris lost its third straight and is 1-7 over its last eight, with the team falling to an 11-13 mark. Nick Weiler-Babb starred with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 13 assists, Andreas Obst netted 8 threes en route to 26 points, and Carsen Edwards finished with 24. Devin Booker netted 13, too. Sylvain Francisco scored a career-high 33 points in a losing effort.
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 87-93 ALBA Berlin
ALBA finally tasted victory again as it fought off Maccabi on the road to snap its 10-game losing streak. ALBA went on a 6-20 surge spanning the final two quarters to build up a big enough cushion to register its first win since December 4. ALBA improved to 4-20 in beating Maccabi for just the third time in 22 games - snapping a skid of six straight losses to the Israeli side since the last victory on November 25, 2021. Yanni Wetzell scored a career high 22 points, Malte Delow also hit a personal best of 14 points while Martin Hermannsson collected 11 points and 11 assists, tying the club record for most assists in a game. Maccabi dropped to 6-18 and missed a chance to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. Tamir Blatt had 16 points and 9 assists against his former team and Roman Sorkin added 14 points in defeat.
Paris Basketball 91-82 LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
Paris recorded its third straight home win by defeating French League rival ASVEL at Adidas Arena. The hosts led from start to finish and managed to absorb ASVEL’s comeback attempts in the second half. Having gotten back to winning ways after a loss at Partizan last week, Paris improved its record to 14-9. ASVEL dropped to 11-13. Maodo Lo paced Paris with 18 points and Tyson Ward netted 16. For ASVEL, Andre Roberson led all scorers with 20 points on 6-for-8 three-point shooting and Theo Maledon combined his 18 points with 6 assists.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 87-75 Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens
Milan celebrated an impressive 87-75 home win over reigning champion Panathinaikos and improved to 13-11 in the EuroLeague, with Zach LeDay pouring in a career-high 33 points for the Italian side. Despite missing its top scorer Nikola Mirotic, Milan snapped a two-game skid and recovered superbly from last week’s 110-66 fiasco at Anadolu Efes Istanbul, as LeDay produced a spectacular display in Europe’s premier club competition. Nico Mannion chipped in with 14 points for Milan, Freddie Gillespie added 11 and Shavon Shields scored 10 for the home team, which trampled Panathinaikos after nosing ahead 17-16 at the end of the first quarter behind airtight defense. At the other end, Kostas Sloukas paced Panathinaikos with 22 points, Kendrick Nunn netted 18 and Cedi Osman amassed 12, but the support cast misfired all over as the Greens sorely missed injured big men Mathias Lessort and Omer Yurtseven, long-term casualties who’ve been sidelined by serious injuries.
Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 88-86 FC Barcelona
In a thriller that literally came down to the last shot, Baskonia edged FC Barcelona at Buesa Arena. Baskonia improved to 10-14 in the standings while Barca dropped to 13-11. Chima Moneke led the winners with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Trent Forrest added 15 points, including the game-winning shot with 0.5 seconds remaining. Chimezie Metu paced Barca with 14 points and Kevin Punter added 13 for the visitors.