Euroleague: Sasha Vujacic’s 29 paces Efes

Week six of the 2012-13 Euroleague season wrapped up Friday with two Group C contests; Anadolu Efes Istanbul played host to EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and Caja Laboral Vitoria taking on Olympiacos Piraeus in Spain. Wins by Efes and Olympiacos tighted up the Group C standings at the top, with three squads within one game of each other and the other three clubs have four weeks to work their way into the top four to move on to the Top 16.

Anadolu Efes Istanbul – EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, 77:71
Anadolu Efes moved into a tie for the second spot in the group with a 77:71 victory over Milan at home in front of an estimate crowd of 8,150. The Armani squad got out to a sizable advantage by half time, outscoring the locals 27:36 heading into the intermission. Efes turned the contest around in the third frame tallying up 11 more than their Spanish visitors. Heading into the final 10 Efes head a slim 2-point margin. The Turks put the game away with a 13:2 run at the front end of the fourth quarter. Milan countered with six unanswered of their own, but they never got any closer than six and Efes picked up their fourth win on the season to move to 4-2. The loss drops EA7 to 2-4 and in a tie for fourth place in the group with Cedevita Zagreb. Sasha Vujacic scored 29 point and tallied 31 performance index rating points on the day, which should be enough to earn him Week 6 MVP honors.
Top Scorers:
Anadolu Efes Istanbul: Sasha Vujacic 29; Kerem Gonlum 10; Jamon-Alfred Lucas 10.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan: Keith Langford 15; Malik Hairston 14; Nicolo Melli 10.

Caja Laboral Vitoria – Olympiacos Piraeus, 72:89
The defending champions took their show on the road and took care of business in Spain, picking up their second straight win away from Greece and hanging on to a tie for the second spot in Group C. The win moves Olympiacos to 4-2, while dropping Caja Laboral Vitoria to 1-5 and the bottom of the group. Caja kept the game close in the first half, going into the locker room at the break only down by seven, 40:47. The visitors took control in the third frame though, putting the game away with an 11-point advantage and pushing the game margin to 18, 51:69. Olympiacos cruised to the final buzzer for their four win on the season and a firm shot at moving on to the Top 16. Caja is only one game out of fourth, so with four weeks to play they still have an opportunity to extend their season, but they have Zalgiris, sitting at the top of the group at 5-1, next week; followed by the only team they’ve beaten so far, Milan; then Efes; and they close out the season with Cedevita Zagreb.
Top Scorers:
Caja Laboral Vitoria: Brad Oleson 13; Andres Nocioni 12; Fernando San Emeterio 12; Thomas Heurtel 11.
Olympiacos Piraeus: Kyle Hines 18; Vassilis Spanoulis 14; Kostas Papanikolaou 13; Josh Powell 12; Georgios Printezis 11.

Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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