Brown stars, Zvezda snags victory in Milan

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade continued its resurgence with a resounding 67-77 road win at AX Armani Exchange Milan on Thursday night. It was Zvezda's third consecutive win to improve to 5-7, while Milan lost its third straight to drop to 7-5. Neither side led by more than 5 points until Zvezda used a 2-14 run late in the third quarter to open a 47-57 margin and never allowed the hosts closer than 4 points the rest of the way. Lorenzo Brown paced the visitors with 21 points and 7 assists. Billy Baron netted 17 points and Derrick Brown scored 12 in a big road win. Sergio Rodriguez was the only Milan player in double figures with 14 points.

The teams traded blows from the start as Zvezda used a long-range shot from Baron and a pair of jumpers from Lorenzo Brown to open a 6-9 lead. The visitors played well on defense and a three-pointer from Lorenzo Brown made it 13-17 before Riccardo Moreschini scored 5 points to give Milan a brief lead. Another Zvezda triple, this one from Ognjen Dobric, made it 18-20 after 10 minutes. Jeff Brooks sparked Milan's offense with a block and a three-point play, before a three-pointer from Nemanja Nedovic made it 26-22. Back to back threes from Michael Roll and Nedovic helped extend the margin to 34-29, but Zvezda kept in touch through Derrick Brown and with Baron scoring 6 more points, including a corner triple. Lorenzo Brown beat the halftime buzzer with a driving layup to make it 40-39 at the break. The visitors restored a slim lead early in the third quarter. Baskets were few and far between. Rodriguez hit a three for the hosts, but Baron nailed his third from downtown and Dejan Davidovac finished a fast break with a layup to open a 45-52 cushion. Brooks snapped a 0-9 run with a big put-back dunk, but Mouhammad Faye's corner triple opened a first double-digit margin of the game, 47-57, in the final minute of the third quarter. Amedeo Della Valle halved the deficit and after Baron and Rodriguez traded triples, Roll's corner triple cut it to 63-67. However, out of a timeout, Lorenzo Brown and James Gist connected for an alley-oop dunk before Lorenzo Brown hit a mid-range jumper in the final minute to make it 65-73 and seal the outcome.

Key play

With Milan threatening to erase the deficit, cutting it to 63-67 with 3:24 to go, Zvezda had a perfect play out of a timeout where James Gist took the ball far from the basket, left if for Lorenzo Brown and after a quick screen slipped towards the basket. Brown served him with a nice lob for a big alley-oop slam that swung the momentum Zvezda's way.

Zvezda continues to rule against Milan

This was the fifth EuroLeague meeting this century between these two clubs and Zvezda has now won all five games.

Stats don't lie

Zvezda held Milan to 46.7% for two-point and 23.3% three-point shooting. Zvezda also outrebounded the hosts 40-31 and protected its paint with 6 blocks. It all contributed to a big road win.

Zvezda wins on perimeter

Zvezda entered the game allowing a second-lowest 32.3% three-point shooting, but faced a Milan team that was shooting a league-high 42.9% from long range and making 10.1 triples per game. However, Zvezda did not allow a triple for almost 14 minutes to open the game. Milan missed its first 8 three-point attempts, shot 3 for 16 in the first half and finished 7 for 30 from long range.

Next up

Next week in Round 13, Zvezda will play at home against KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on Thursday and Milan will travel to play LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne one day later.