Zalgiris' Kevin Pangos (R) vies with Fenerbahce's Marko Guduric during Euroleague Final 4 semifinal basketball match between Fenerbahce and Zalgiris in Belgrade, Serbia on May 18, 2018. Fenerbahce won 76-67. (Xinhua/Predrag Milosavljevic)
BELGRADE, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Fenerbahce from Turkey beat Zalgiris from Lithuania 76-67 in the first semifinal of the basketball Euroleague here on Friday.
At the Belgrade Arena, Fenerbache built up a 19-13 lead in the first quarter in front of 16,967 fans.
In the second quarter, Datome came out as the leader of Fenerbahce, achieving two three-pointers and two field goals without a miss, while Zalgiris tried to keep up with a team effort led by Kevin Pangos.
Towards the middle of the third quarter, Fenerbahce stunned Zalgiris with a double-digit lead of 13 points. But the gap was narrowed by Pangos, who started to stand out in the Lithuanian team with the amazing three-pointer.
The two teams entered the final quarter with 54-50 in a surprising recovery of the Lithuanian team, but Fenerbahce's fantastic Bobby Dixon achieved 12 points in a row (3 field goals and 2 three pointers) to send his team to the comfort zone.
Bobby Dixon (playing with Turkish citizenship under the name Ali Muhammed) was the most efficient with 19 points, followed by Luigi Datome with 16 and Kostas Sloukas with 14.
Pangos led the Lithuanian team with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Fenerbahce coach Zeljko Obradovic, who is pursuing his personal 10th Euroleague title as a coach, said that Zalgiris never gave up and always found a way to return into the game.
"But we still managed to beat this great team," Obradovic added.
Fenerbahce will meet either Real Madrid or CSKA Moscow in the final.
