The Italian side was in control throughout the contest as its stalwart Nikola Mirotic stood out
Milan staged a stunning road upset to beat Fenerbahce, 85-91
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan celebrated an 85-91 road win over Turkish Airlines EuroLeague leader Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul after the Italian team’s forward Nikola Mirotic scored a game-high 29 points through the opening three quarters.
Mirotic, who also racked up 9 boards, was scoreless in the fourth, but Zach LeDay stepped up and scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 10 minutes, while Neno Dimitrijevic added 15, as Milan improved to 6-6.
Fenerbahce dropped to 9-3 after trailing more or less throughout the contest, with Wade Baldwin pacing the home team on 19 points. Arturs Zagars netted 16 and Tarik Biberovic chipped in with 15 for the Turkish outfit, whose late fightback fell short.
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Milan shared the ball superbly in the first half as the visitors engineered 11 assists in the opening 15 minutes while Mirotic shot the lights out from all over, mixing it from inside and outside to score 18 points by halftime. Dimitrijevic added 10, while Baldwin and Biberovic kept Fenerbahce afloat, with the hosts trailing 37-41 at the interval.
The halftime score by no means flattered Milan, which dominated the boards 20-14 and dished out almost twice as many assists as Fenerbahce (13-7) thanks to quick movement of the ball and an unselfish approach from the visiting players.
Fenerbahce looked like turning the tide in the third quarter after conjuring a 7-0 run to take a 44-41 lead, but Mirotic replied with 6 quickfire points to swing the pendulum Milan’s way and the visitors never looked back after nosing ahead again.
A 3-13 run early in the fourth gave Milan a massive 66-79 lead and the writing was on the wall for Fenerbahce after its deficit swelled to 68-85 in the closing stages. With their backs against the wall, the hosts came out swinging and a flurry of late three-pointers closed the gap to 85-89 down the stretch, but there was to be no dramatic climax as LeDay was ice cool from the foul line.