The two Turkish sides in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague picked up wins in their respective Round 22 matches on Tuesday.
Playing in the comfort of their home courts, Anadolu Efes beat Crvena Zvezda, while Fenerbahçe outclassed Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv.
The two teams from Istanbul currently share the same record in eighth place, after wins in respective matches.
Anadolu Efes began the round by beating Crvena Zvezda 86-72. Shane Larkin equaled his season-high of 23 points. Later, Fenerbahçe trumped Maccabi Tel Aviv 82-75 for a seventh straight win.
Anadolu Efes Istanbul posted its fifth victory in a row over Crvena Zvezda on Tuesday at the Sinan Erdem Sports Center.
Helped by Larkin’s season-high 23 points, Efes took its record to 12-10. Vasilije Micic scored 13 points, Sertac Sanli hit 12, while Rodrigue Beaubois and Krunoslav Simon paired 11 and 10 points with six assists, respectively.
Ognjen Dobric and Dejan Davidovac scored 12 each for Zvezda, whose record dropped to 7-15, with four losses in the last five games. Duop Reath added 10 for the visitors, who lost leading scorer Jordan Loyd to injury in the second quarter.
In the night’s other match in Istanbul, Fenerbahçe crushed Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 82-75 at the Ülker Sports and Event Hall, picking up a seventh consecutive EuroLeague victory.
Fener’s Jan Vesely took center stage with 18 points on nine-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and four assists. Nando De Colo scored 16, Dyshawn Pierre added 15 and Marko Guduric hit 11 for the Turkish side.
With the win, Fenerbahçe lifted its record to 12-10.
Elijah Bryant paced Maccabi with 18 points and Scottie Wilbekin registered his first career double-double with 15 points, a career-high 10 assists and three steals. The loss ended a modest two-game winning streak and sent the Israeli champs' record to 10-12.
The two-round week that began Tuesday was particularly good for the home teams, winning four out of the evening’s five games.
FC Barcelona downed fourth-placed Zenit St. Petersburg 85-81 to stay top of the table. AX Armani Exchange Milan used the opportunity to get into third place after fighting off a late Olympiacos Piraeus's comeback for a 90-79 win.
Tuesday's only away winner was FC Bayern Munich, which handed Khimki Moscow a 14th straight loss, tying a EuroLeague record.
