Euroleague round 4; Maccabi and Baskonia win on the road

After the home teams went 9-0 in Round 3, the trend was bucked by Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz, which claimed their first road wins of the season in Villeurbanne and Berlin, respectively. Zenit St Petersburg and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul bounced back from Round 3 losses with home wins. Five more games wrap up Round 4 on Friday, including a showdown between two of last season’s Final Four teams when AX Armani Exchange Milan hosts Anadolu Efes Istanbul.

Zenit St Petersburg 79-71 FC Bayern Munich

Zenit St Petersburg dominated the fourth quarter to erase an 8-point deficit and march to a 79-71 victory over FC Bayern Munich in its home opener at Sibur Arena. The hosts scored the game’s first 13 points and behind Jordan Mickey, who scored 16 of his team-high 18 points in the first quarter, led 31-16 after 10 minutes. Bayern took charge with a big third quarter led by Corey Walden and Darrun Hilliard, but Zenit was too strong down the stretch. Zenit outscored Bayern 25-11 in the fourth quarter as it improved to 3-1. Alex Poythress added 14 points. Conner Frankamp scored 12, Billy Baron 10, and Jordan Loyd paired 9 points with a career-high 11 assists. Darrun Hilliard scored 24, and Corey Walden tallied 20 points and seven assists for Bayern, which fell to 0-4.

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 80-41 UNICS Kazan

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul snapped a two-game losing streak with an emphatic 80-41 victory at home over UNICS Kazan. Fenerbahce took control of the game with a 26-4 run spanning the first and second quarters, moving to 2-2 on the young season. Marial Shayok paced Fenerbahce with 17 points, while Devin Booker scored 16 points with five rebounds and four steals. Nando de Colo tallied 13 points, and Ahmet Duverioglu chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds. UNICS dropped to 1-3 with a historically bad offensive performance, setting several negative club records. Isaiah Canaan was the only player to score in double figures with 10 points.

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 85-93 Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv handed LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne its first season defeat with a dominant 85-93 road triumph on Thursday night. Maccabi made a fast start and was ahead for nearly all of a high-scoring first half. The visitors maintained a double-digit lead for most of the third quarter and were never less than 8 points in front throughout the final stanza. James Nunnally was the star of the show with 25 points. Jalen Reynolds added 17 points and five rebounds, while Keenan Evans and Scottie Wilbekin scored 13 points. Elie Okobo paced ASVEL with 23 points, and Chris Jones netted 14 points against his former team. Maccabi improved to 2-2, while ASVEL dropped to 3-1.

ALBA Berlin 76-80 Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz

Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz used a huge first half to build a large lead before holding off ALBA Berlin 76-80 in the German capital on Thursday night. Baskonia improved to 2-2 on the season, while ALBA dropped to 1-3. Baskonia took control early with its ball-movement and three-point shooting, then started to blow the game open in the second quarter. The visitors scored 52 first-half points and led by as many as 27 points in the third before ALBA slowly melted the deficit. Baskonia held on as Simone Fontecchio scored 17 points, while Jayson Granger had 15 points and six assists. Matthew Costello finished with 10 points in the victory. Luke Sikma shined for ALBA with 19 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, while Oscar da Silva finished with 15 points plus six rebounds in defeat.