By Stefan Djordjevic / info@eurohoops.net
Alba Berlin put on a valiant effort and had a shot at turning the game around, however, Fenerbahce Beko still managed to stay ahead for an 89-84 home win in EuroLeague Round 25.
Nando De Colo had a hot hand from the get-go. He scored 11 points in six minutes but had to leave early due to two quick personal fouls. Nonetheless, he continued where he left off later on and finished with 26 points, eight assists and 31 PIR.
“It’s a EuroLeague game. Every week we know it will be difficult to win, but we try to be focussed on our team. We knew before the game that ALBA is a great team, maybe the team who plays the best basketball in this EuroLeague. They know how to move the ball, they know how to play together, so we just tried to stick to the plan and be together. We will see – step by step. We want to go further, but we need to take the games one by one and be focussed on what we have to do,” the French guard noted.
He was pushing Fener throughout the forty minutes but it was Dyshawn Pierre’s effort with three shots from deep and 11 straight points down the stretch that gave the Turkish team an 85-72 lead which was crucial for their win.
Alba made one final comeback effort, cutting the gap to 85-82, but Igor Kokoskov reacted with a timeout after which his squad scored and lifted up some pressure as they cruised on to victory.
The coach was happy with the win his team pulled of but noted that there’s a lot to work on for the upcoming challenges.
“It was a tough game. They play solid, they play together. A lot of shooters, they play unselfishly. Credit to this team, winning at home on our court is something we’ve got to be pleased with. But a lot of mistakes – we could make highlights of the mistakes we’re making. We have to be smarter. Transition defense was an Achilles heel all game long. We have to be better in communication, running back, guarding the individual responsibilities. So we’re pleased that we won, all credit to the players. But we’ve got a lot to learn from this game because we made a lot of mistakes,” he said.
Pierre stopped at 17 points while Jan Vesely and Marko Guduric added 12 each. On the opposing side, Marcus Eriksson scored 19 in addition to Maodo Lo and Simone Fontecchio’s 14 each. Ben Lammers had 16 on 7-7 shooting.
Fenerbahce logged tenth straight win and improved to 15-10 in the sixth place of the EuroLeague standings while Alba holds an 8-17 record.