2019-20Regular SeasonRound 4
AX Armani Exchange Milan 87
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 74
October 25, 2019 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 MEDIOLANUM FORUM

Milan downs Fenerbahce, ends long losing streak

AX Armani Exchange Milan won its third consecutive game, downing visiting Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 87-74 on Friday night at Mediolanum Forum. The victory ended Milan's 10-game losing streak against Fenerbahce, and improved the team to a 3-1 record on the season, while Fenerbahce dropped to 1-3. Milan took control with a 14-0 first-quarter run to open a double-digit lead, and Fenerbahce never came closer than 7 points the rest of the way. Milan led by as many as 17 points, and was never really threatened. Sergio Rodriguez paced the winners with 22 points and 5 assists, while center Arturas Gudaitis returned in style after long injury layoff with 17 points. Amedeo Della Valle netted 15 points for Milan. Joffrey Lauvergne, another returnee from injury, collected 14 points and 8 rebounds, while Jan Vesely had 14 points and 7 rebounds for Fenerbahce. Nando De Colo scored 12 points in defeat.

Milan scored on just one of its first eight field goal attempts, but then got going behind Della Valle who scored 10 points during a 14-0 run, including back-to-back triples, and with help from Gudaitis and Kaleb Tarczewski the hosts opened an 18-6 lead. Fenerbahce was without a basket for almost 5 minutes before Lauvergne hit a corner three. The hosts held a 20-11 edge after 10 minutes, but Fenerbahce got an offensive spark with an alley-oop dunk and a tip-in from Vesely, and a corner three-pointer from Derrick Williams cut it to 26-18. But Rodriguez turned unstoppable in the second quarter, and together with Gudaitis combined to score 13 points in a 15-6 charge that opened a 41-24 margin. Vesely cut it to 41-29 at halftime, then a three-pointer from Luigi Datome and close range buckets from Vesely and Lauvergne helped bring it back to 47-40. But Della Valle hit a triple and a coast-to-coast layup to restore a double-digit margin, which a three-point play from Gudaitis extended to 57-44. Melih Mahmutoglu hit two triples late in the third quarter to prevent Milan from running away with it and the final quarter began 66-55. A three-pointer from Williams got Fenerbahce within 68-60 early in the fourth, but Rodriguez answered right back with a three, and Michael Roll added a pair of triples to extend the lead to 79-64, allowing Milan to close it out.

10-game streak ends

Fenerbahce won its last 10 games against Milan going into this contest, but Milan ended that streak, registering its first head-to-head win since March 2014. This loss also marks the first time Fenerbahce had three loses through four rounds since 2006.

Tag-team scoring

Milan set the tone in the first half on both ends of the floor. First behind Amedeo Della Valle who scored 10 points in the first quarter, then Sergio Rodriguez pulled the strings scoring 12 points in the second quarter. Defensively, Milan held the visitors to 2-for-10 three-point shooting and just 1 offensive rebound in the first half.

Coaching legends finally meet

Milan's Ettore Messina and Fenerbahce's Zeljko Obradovic, two head coaches who have combined to win 13 EuroLeague titles in the past 27 years, went head to head for the first time since December of 2013.

Big men return

Both teams got a big boost in this game, with Milan's Arturas Gudaitis and Fenerbahce's Joffrey Lauvergne returning from injury after months of absence. Both players scored their first baskets within the first 5 minutes of the game, and were among each team's best performers.

Next up

Next week both teams will start on the road in Round 5. Milan visits ALBA Berlin on Tuesday, and Fenerbahce travels to play Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

Sergio Rodriguez - AX Armani Exchange Milan - EB19
Friday, October 25, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; PUKL,SASA; NIKOLIC, UROS
Attendance: 9486
By Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan20212521
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul11182619
End of Quarter1234
AX Armani Exchange Milan20416687
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul11295574
AX Armani Exchange Milan
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
00 DELLA VALLE, AMEDEO 21:00 15 2/4 3/6 2/2   3 3 1   1     1 3 15
5 MICOV, VLADIMIR 31:50 7 2/3 1/2     4 4 7         1 1 16
6 BILIGHA, PAUL 10:05 6 2/5   2/2 4 2 6     1     2 1 7
7 GUDAITIS, ARTURAS 21:24 17 5/8   7/9 1 4 5 2 1       3 8 25
9 MORASCHINI, RICCARDO 4:54                         2   -2
10 ROLL, MICHAEL 20:52 6 0/2 2/4     1 1 1 2 1     3   2
13 RODRIGUEZ, SERGIO 30:02 22 6/8 2/5 4/5 1 2 3 5 1 5     1 4 23
15 TARCZEWSKI, KALEB 20:49 8 3/6   2/2 5 4 9     3 1   4 1 9
20 CINCIARINI, ANDREA 11:37           3 3 3         2   4
23 BURNS, CHRISTIAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
30 WHITE, AARON 3:58                         1 1  
40 SCOLA, LUIS 23:29 6 1/6 1/2 1/1 1 4 5 1 1 1   1 3   2
Team                     1         -1
Totals 200:00 87 21/42 9/19 18/21 12 27 39 20 5 13 1 1 23 19 100
        50% 47.4% 85.7%
Head coach: MESSINA, ETTORE
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
9 WESTERMANN, LEO 12:01   0/1       1 1 1   1     2 1 -1
10 MAHMUTOGLU, MELIH 14:19 8 0/1 2/3 2/3                 1 1 5
13 BIBEROVIC, TARIK 9:26 4 2/2 0/2   2 1 3 1         1   5
16 SLOUKAS, KOSTAS 25:05 7 2/4 0/2 3/4   2 2 7   1     2 3 11
19 DE COLO, NANDO 28:40 12 3/8 0/3 6/6   5 5 2   2     4 3 8
21 WILLIAMS, DERRICK 20:49 8 1/2 2/4 0/2   1 1 2 2       1 2 9
24 VESELY, JAN 28:48 14 6/9   2/3 4 3 7     1 1   2 6 21
35 MUHAMMED, ALI 13:38 2   0/2 2/2       1 1 1     1 2 2
44 DUVERIOGLU, AHMET 4:41           1 1               1
70 DATOME, LUIGI 20:52 5 1/5 1/3   1 1 2 2   2     4 2 -1
77 LAUVERGNE, JOFFREY 21:41 14 5/9 1/3 1/1 3 5 8         1 1 3 17
91 STIMAC, VLADIMIR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 74 20/41 6/22 16/21 11 20 31 16 3 8 1 1 19 23 78
        48.8% 27.3% 76.2%
Head coach: OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO

Head Coaches

MESSINA, ETTORE
AX Armani Exchange Milan

“Of course it is an important win, it is always an important win especially when you beat a perennial contender like Fenerbahce. My players played with a lot of desire, heart, and I think they were more focused on rebounding, which is a big key if you want to win games. They made big shots, big plays. Thank you to the arena, the fans really helped us tonight, that was important. I understand it is not easy because we are still up and down, but it is a good step forward.”

“We feel very good. It was a team effort. My players worked hard all game long. It is never easy to play Fenerbahce, the way they are organized and prepared, the way they play defense. It is a big win, an important win, but unfortunately, it is only one win.”

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
"What else than congratulations to Milan? I believe they played a very good game, and deserved to win from the first to last second. They controlled the game during 40 minutes. As a coach you always try to understand some things. It is obvious that in my team there are a lot of quality players, but we are not a team. The reason for that is probably that we played without concentration. We opened the game in a very bad way, without trying anything we had prepared before the game. We allowed 21 points in the last quarter, and had just 1 foul. It is difficult to play basketball, watching the other team score and having just one foul. We probably need to look at ourselves, it is not the first time, we always try to do this. Anything can happen, you can have a bad day, you can shoot the ball and not score, but if you really want to play and win the game, you will try to give everything, including a proper way of using fouls, and we did not do that. We played against an excellent team, so I understand it is not easy, but it would have been much better if we tried to play the way we prepared the game."

Players

DELLA VALLE, AMEDEO
AX Armani Exchange Milan
“We are very happy with this win because we have been working very hard. I am very happy we go out of this game with a big win against a great Fenerbahace team. The fans gave us a lot of energy, and we are very happy tonight. Of course I am happy for myself, I have a great group of guys that trust me, and you’ve got to give a lot of credit to the coach because he has been doing a phenomenal job keeping me on track.”
GUDAITIS, ARTURAS
AX Armani Exchange Milan
“It feels great. This win is also very important for us. I am just doing what I am supposed to do on the court, and I really enjoyed playing in front of this crowd that gave us a lot of energy. Fenerbahce is always playing hard, and we must match it, and I think we did that in the first half. I think the key was that first half, and in the second we stuck to the plan.”