The Turkish club Efes Pilsen went through to the final of the Kondrashin and Belov Cup. In the semifinal, the Turks faced Hemofarm from Serbia and Montenegro.
Hemofarm vs Efes Pilsen: 67-68
The team from the former Yugoslavia opened up the scoring, but the Turks quickly gained the initiative. By the end of the first quarter, they led 27-16. American forward Antonio Granger was especially effective, scoring 9 points in the first 10 minutes. Efes’ biggest lead in the second quarter was 18 points. However, the Serbs were able to even up the game. They forced several turnovers and converted to draw closer. At halftime the Turks led 33-45.
Hemofarm came out strong in the second half, playing more aggressive on defense and making few mistakes. The Serb head coach probably had his team pay more attention to Granger, and they were successful in this task. The American forward didn’t score one point in the third quarter. At the same time, the game that started off as a blowout for the Turks became increasingly interesting. With four minutes left in the game, the Serbs cut the lead to one point. But they couldn’t take the lead due to too many mistakes, missing several opportunities on offense. With eight seconds left, the score was 65-66 in favor of the Turks. One made basket for Hemofarm, which the crowd was supporting, could have sent the game into overtime. Stefanovic stole the ball and put his team up 67-66. But the miracle was shot down by Nikola Prkacin at the buzzer with a jumper from the right corner, giving Efes a 68-67 victory.
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