The Italian side prevailed in a rugged contest to boost its postseason hopes
Milan claws out huge win over Crvena Zvezda, 80-82

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan took a big step towards clinching a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague postseason berth after improving to 16-13 with an industrious 80-82 win at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, which slipped to a third loss in a row.
Nikola Mirotic paced Milan with a game-high 19 points to go with 7 boards, Zach LeDay chipped in with 15 points and Shavon Shields added 14 for the Italian side, which clawed out the victory in a physical contest devoid of much spectacular action.
Nemanja Nedovic and Nikola Kalinic led Zvezda with 12 points apiece while Isaiah Canaan and Filip Petrusev netted 11 each, but the Serbian side lacked a clutch player able to swing the contest its way in a tense finish as it slipped to 16-13.
Zvezda’s skid has coincided with Petrusev’s stunning loss of form in the last few games, with the power forward going 5 of 11 from the foul line against Milan while he also shot a modest 3 of 9 from the floor.
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Nedovic made a bright start as he sank the opening 8 points for Zvezda and the home team carved out a 17-10 lead before Milan responded and closed the gap to 24-23 at the end of the first quarter.
Milan turned the tide in the second on the back of a 0-9 run but Zvezda’s small-ball unit hit back with a 10-0 streak as the game swung back and forth, with the visitors nosing ahead 45-48 at halftime thanks to good work from Mirotic and Shields, while Armoni Brooks also contributed with a pair of threes.
Zvezda struggled with moving the ball and finding open looks in the third quarter but was able to stay in touch thank to ironclad defense, while LeDay stepped up for Milan as the visitors maintained their advantage and led 64-68 ahead of the final 10 minutes.
Points were even more difficult to come by in the fourth as the matchup got increasingly physical, with Mirotic nailing 6 clutch points in a row for Milan enabling the visiting team to keep the upper hand, 76-78. With both sides faltering on offense in the home stretch, Mirotic made one of two free throws to make it 80-82 before Kalinic turned the ball over in Zvezda’s last possession in the dying seconds.
It was not pretty but they all count, especially in the regular season’s home straight, hence Milan will be delighted to have snatched what could turn out to be a priceless road win in the battle to secure a berth in the business end of Europe’s premier club competition.