By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Niccolo Mannion’s first EuroLeague game with Milan, combined with Neno Dimitrijevic scoring 22 points and Zach LeDay scoring 17 ended with a big win over Real Madrid.
On the night that the Italian club honored Sergio Rodriguez who was inducted into Milan’s Hall of Fame, coach Messina’s team beat mighty Real Madrid 85-76 and the two teams are now tied with a 3-4 record in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings.
Mannion also proved to be an admirable addition with 11 points and five assists, while Fabien Causeur and Nikola Mirotic, both former Madrid players, scored nine points each.
For injury-riddled Madrid, Serge Ibaka and Mario Hezonja scored 13 points each, Gabriel Deck added 11 points and Tavares had 10 points and nine rebounds, but he made his fourth foul and missed crucial minutes when the game got out of reach for the Spanish side.
Plus Madrid shot just 7/29 threes.
A game of runs
Milan started the game with a 24-16 first period and pushed their lead to 15 points (33-18). Real Madrid reacted with a 9-0 run (33-27) but thanks to two threes by Dimitrijevic, Milan got back a 10-point cushion (39-29).
Mirotic extended the advantage to 11 points (41-29) still Madrid trimmed the lead again to five (45-40) and Dimitrijevic made it a seven-point game at halftime (47-40) having already 15 points in the game.
Madrid started the third period with a 5-0 run (47-45), Milan answered back with a 6-0 (53-45) and the game of runs continued.
Edy Tavares was called for his fourth foul with the score 58-51 for Milan and the two teams entered the last period with the Italians leading 62-55 and by 10 (65-55) after a three by LeDay to start the fourth quarter.
With three more shots, Milan completed an 11-0 run that pushed them back to a 16-point lead (71-55). Their biggest of the night came a bit later with LeDay scoring a three for 17 personal points, pushing the lead to 20 (78-58).
Tavares came back with six minutes left, but Madrid couldn’t come back.
Photo credit: EuroLeague
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