EA7 Milan celebrates playoff berth by beating Fenerbahce Ulker

A day after clinching a playoff spot without playing, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan celebrated by holding off Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul 73-82 on the road Friday night to get a step closer to securing home-court advantage in the next stage. Milan improved to 9-3 and is in sole possession of second place in Group E, while Fenerbahce diminished its playoff chances by dropping to 5-7 and a share of fifth place. Milan started pulling away when Gani Lawal scored 10 points in the second, including three highlight-reel dunks, and Curtis Jerrells orchestrated a 3-13 run that opened Milan’s 12-point lead. The visitors held a 29-38 halftime advantage, before opening the third quarter with 3 consecutive triples en route to a 42-62 lead. Fenerbahce used its defense to rally; Bojan Bogdanovic, Bo McCalebb and Luka Zoric cut the deficit, but the hosts never got closer than 5 points the rest of the way. In the absence of Turkish Airlines Euroleague leading scorer Keith Langford, it was David Moss who paced Milan by scoring 12 of his 15 points in the second half. Alessandro Gentile netted 13 with 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Lawal finished with 12 points plus 7 rebounds, Daniel Hackett scored 11, while Samardo Samuels added 10 points in victory. Bogdanovic netted 24 and had career-high 3 blocks for Fenerbahce. McCalebb scored 17, Nemanja Bjelica collected 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Emir Preldzic finished with 11 points plus 7 rebounds.