Fenerbahce won the Turkish derby of the EuroLeague
Fenerbahce won the Istanbul derby in the Basketball Development Center against Efes. When they lost to Dubai 10 days ago, Fener didn’t look like a team that could defend its EuroLeague title, but since then, the ‘’Yellow Canaries’’ have been on a three-game winning streak and are starting to look better and better.
The hosts coached by Igor Kokoskov started the game better and even had an 11-point lead in the first quarter (19-8). Fener got the lead for the first time right at the end of the second quarter. The teams went head-to-head until the last quarter, when Fener started to pull away and won the game in the end by 10 points (79-69).
Devon Hall and Scottie Wilbekin both scored 12 points for the winning side, followed by Wade Baldwin and Bonzie Colson with 10 points each (Baldwin also added 7 rebounds and 8 assists). For the hosts, Nick Weiler-Babb had 17 points, Shane Larking scored 13, and Isaia Cordinier had 10 points in the losing effort.
In the post-game interview, coach Jasikevicius had some criticism for the Turkish basketball fans, expressing his disappointment that neither Efes nor Fenerbahce sell out their home games, despite both teams being title contenders (again) and the Turkish national team just had a great EuroBasket qualifying to the final of the tournament.
With this win, Fener improved to 3-3 in the EuroLeague and will travel to Spain for next week’s double round to play in Valencia on Tuesday and Real in Madrid on Thursday. Before their trip to Spain, they will host Turk Telekom in the Ulker Sport Arena in the Turkish League tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Efes dropped to 2-4, and after playing Trabzonspor on Sunday, they will travel to Paris for the Tuesday game and Vitoria-Gasteiz to play against winless Baskonia on Thursday.
Imre Halasz
Image credit: Fanatik
