Motum pours in season-high, Bolden and Broekhoff help teams to victory
Brock Motum poured in a season-high scoring effort, while Jonah Bolden and Ryan Broekhoff helped guide their sides to import wins across the EuroLeague and EuroCup competitions this week.
In an absolute thriller, Anadolu Efes Istanbul found themselves with possession and the final shot to steal the win away from Greek superpower Panathinaikos Athens. Efes star Errick McCollum (16 points) had his shot blocked at the buzzer that saw the Turkish side fall short by the narrowest of margins, going down 81-82 [video highlights].
https://twitter.com/EuroLeague/status/931251880155631617
Nick Calathes was the hero for Panathinaikos, scoring 13 of his career-high 29 points in the fourth quarter, going close to a triple-double in also gathering 9 rebounds and 10 assists. For Efes, Australian Olympian Brock Motum was the standout. The 6’10 forward poured in a EuroLeague season-high 21 points on 7-9 shooting, including a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. He also had 5 rebounds and 2 assists to round out an impressive performance by Motum despite his side’s heart-breaking loss.
After toppling Barcelona last week, it was a difficult result for Efes who have just the one win to date this season. Next week Motum will return to Lithuania to take on his former side Zalgiris Kaunas, and will be looking to help Efes rebound and get their EuroLeague campaign back on track.
Maccabi Tel Aviv travelled to Russia to take on Khimki Moscow and came away with an important 69-77 road victory.
After a slow start, Tel Aviv got rolling, with a Jonah Bolden jumper capped a surge that saw them take an 8-17 early lead. The Israeli side would maintain that momentum to head into the second period up 28-19. While Khimki fought back to close the margin back to just 3 at half time, Tel Aviv would finish strongly to register an important 8 point win [video highlights].
https://twitter.com/EuroLeague/status/931242954966142976
6’10 Bolden started once again, and in his 20 minutes, contributed 10 points on 4-9 shooting including 2-4 on three-pointers alongside 7 rebounds in another promising performance.
The victory enabled Tel Aviv to pull level with Khimki on a 5-3 record, with a contest against Spanish giants Barcelona looming next week.
Lokomotiv Kuban thrashed Limoges 81-55 at home to remain unbeaten, in turn becoming the first side to qualify for the EuroCup Top 16.
Australian Boomer Ryan Broekhoff was one of four players to score in double figures for Lokomotiv, contributing a team-best 12 points on 5-7 shooting in almost 20 minutes off the bench. He also added 8 rebounds in his time on court, with Lokomotiv afforded the luxury of running the bench in the lop-sided win [video highlights].
https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/930898130035462145
After leading by 3 at the first break, Lokomotiv unleashed a devastating 25-9 second term to dismantle Limoges and set up the win. They hammered in the nails in a barnstorming final quarter to totally overwhelm their French opponents, eventually winning by 26 points.