Crvena Zvezda Belgrade routed Orleans Loiret 93-73 at Hala Pionir on Wednesday night. Eleven unanswered points early in the game gave the hosts a 17-5 margin. Later a 16-5 run that bridged the last two quarters created an 82-62 advantage, which represented the crucial moments of the game. Mike Scott led the winners with 22 points on close-to-perfect shooting – 9 for 10 on two-pointers and 1 for 1 from long distance’ scoring ace Igor Rakocevic netted 19 and Boris Savovic added 18 with 9 rebounds. Caleb Green led Orleans with 17 points, Jahmar Young drained 14, Brian Greene 11 and Marc-Antoine Pellin 10 with 4 assists.

Back-to-back layups nailed by Bojan Subotic and Mike Scott opened the scoring at Hala Pionir for Crvena Zvezda. A mid-range jumper by Brian Greene was the first basket for Orleans. Scott dunked for a 6-2 margin before Ryan Ayers countered with a triple. Then the home team, pushed on by more than 7,000 fans, went on an 11-0 run highlighted by an Igor Rakocevic jumper and capped by Scott’s three-point-play to lead 17-5 after seven minutes played. Greene stopped a five-minute scoreless for the French side with a put back. And Jahmar Young’s layup made it 17-9. Orleans’s defense forced Scott to a turnover, and Bambale Osby cut the cushion even more until a long distance shot by Vuk Radivojevic made it 20-11. Elton Brown from the foul line established a 21-13 margin for Crvena Zvezda after the first quarter. A layup by Brown restored a double digit margin for the hosts, 27-15 early in the second quarter. A Young triple and Caleb Green jumper kept Orleans on track before Boris Savovic’s dunk excited the crowd for 31-20. Marc-Antoine Pellin and Mael Lebrun helped Orleans climb within 32-25, then the teams exchanged baskets to 36-29. Lebrun from downtown fueled the visitors. Rakocevic missed one of his free throws and Nelson hit a jumper for 41-32. Green scored 5 points to bring his team within 43-37 at halftime.

Greene followed remained hot with another three pointer to open the second half, but Subotic and Scott made layups for a 47-40 advantage to the Serbian side. Rakocevic netted 4 free throws, and Pellin countered with a deep three to put 51-46 on the scoreboard. Young’s layup reduced the difference to 52-48, but a quick three pointer by Rakocevic rejected Orleans to 7 points behind. Then Scott made a mid-range jumper for 57-48. Greene hit another jumper before free throws fueled the hosts to 61-51. Both sides scored only free throws with Young, Rakocevic, Savovic and Greene all scoring for 66-55 to Crvena Zvezda. Young scored in the open court and Scott went to the rim for to make it 70-57, but the final of quarter was hot with Young completing a three-point-play and Brown beating the buzzer to give a 72-60 lead to the hosts. Scott added 5 points in a 10-2 run to open the last quarter, which gave an 82-62 margin and essentially iced the game. Greene scored from mid range and Ayers from long distance to try to keep Orleans alive at 85-69, but Rakocevic and Savovic scored 5 points to seal the win.