Efes suffocates Virtus, 86-67

Anadolu Efes Istanbul completed a perfect two-round week with another convincing home win against an Italian opponent when it defeated Virtus Segafredo Bologna on Thursday night. The visitors struggled to take control of the game in the early going, but once they oiled their offensive machinery, Virtus found no answers and trailed by double-digit differences for the entire second half. Efes improved to 16-16 and remains alive in the contest for a playoff spot, while Virtus slipped to 13-19.
Ante Zizic set the tone for the winners with 24 points on 11-of-13 field goal shooting to tie his career-best. He also added 6 boards, 1 assist and 1 steal to reach a PIR of 26. Zizic found a great companion inside in Tibor Pleiss, who posted 14 points, and outside with Elijah Bryant and Rodrigue Beaubois, who scored 13 and 10 points, respectively. The latter also contributed 10 boards and 7 assists. Niccolo Mannion paced Virtus with a career-high 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc, Semi Ojeleye tallied 13 points and 7 rebounds, Jordan Mickey provided 11 points, and Marco Belinelli added 10 in a losing effort.
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Both teams displayed a below-par offense in the early going. Mickey and Ismael Bako sustained Virtus from the inside, while Efes tried to play high-paced basketball and score from the outside with little success. The visitors shot 1-of-10 in the first period, which allowed Virtus to stay in the game, 13-13, after 10 minutes.
Ante Zizic stepped up big early in the second quarter, scoring 8 points in a 13-2 run that opened a double-digit margin, 26-15. Virtus didn’t step back and reacted with a 0-7 spark, but turnovers and missed open shots punished them. Micic showed up at that moment to provide some offense to his team, both scoring and assisting, good to keep Efes in charge, 36-27, at halftime.
Efes found offensive momentum early after the break. Pleiss extended the gap to 41-27 and Micic and Will Clyburn combined to make it a 17-point lead soon after. With Virtus unable to find easy shots, the home team started growing offensively, finding threes and fastbreak buckets that dug it deeper, 51-33. A late 9-2 run, capped by a buzzer-beating three by Beaubois, buried the visitors even more at the end of the third quarter, 60-38.
Mannion came to the rescue with back-to-back triples that seemed to reanimate Virtus, also forcing an early Efes timeout. The joy swung sides right after that, when Zizic and Bryant responded with an inside bucket and a three to restore a safe margin, 65-44, for Efes. Even though Belinelli showed up and Mannion kept contributing from deep, Efes was already rocketing. Zizic took over with 8 points in a row to set a game-high lead of 26 points, 76-50, sealing the outcome with 4 minutes to play.