By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce Beko came back from down 17 points to beat Barcelona 81 – 73 at home and conclude the recent double-game week in EuroLeague with a win after a loss at Maccabi Tel Aviv. The hosts completed the match with a 14 – 5 run over the last five minutes to get the victory.
While Fenerbahce improved to 17-10 (with one game less), Barcelona dropped to 18-10 after two straight defeats. The Blaugrana also lost the tiebreaker vs. the Turkish side since they had won by one point at home.
Johnathan Motley led Fener’s scorers with 16. Marko Guduric added 15 points, Devin Booker had 13 points, Scottie Wilbekin dropped 12 points and former Barcelona player Nigel Hayes-Davis contributed 10 points.
“It was a team effort,” said Motley. “We wanted this game, we needed this game to get back in rhythm, and I think we did a good job in the second half. In the second quarter, we did a really good job. First quarter, I was trash, so I had to come back in the second half and help my team win.”
Nikola Mirotic produced 19 points and five rebounds for Barcelona. Tomas Satoransky finished with 14 points, Nicolas Laprovittola scored 12 while Jan Vesely had 11 points and nine rebounds in his first return at Fenerbahce as an opponent. The Czech big man was recognized by the club before tipoff for his contribution (including winning the 2017 EuroLeague championship) during his eight-year stint with the team.
Barcelona began the game brilliantly and led 17 – 30 a bit before the end of the first period before Fener’s reaction on both ends. Wilbekin provided some shooting and his team raised the level of its defense to approach 37 – 40 halftime. After the break, Fener continued at the same rhythm to lead 61 – 56 with 10 minutes remaining.
Mirotic reclaimed Barca’s advantage by hitting a triple for the 67-68. Fener responded with an 8-0 run and retained a lead beyond shooting distance for the rest of the match.
“I’ll never blame my guys for missing open shots,” Barcelona coach Sarunas Jasikevicius said. “I am sure they tried and we missed five or six down the stretch. The thing that hurt was the 50-50 ball that we didn’t get before [Scottie] Wilbekin’s three-point shot. At key moments, you need to make those [to go your way] and some little details decided it. We should have stepped up physically when they did.”
Fenerbahce coach Dimitris Itoudis had the best to say for both his players and their reaction early in the game, as well as the fans and their support of the team.
“It was an amazing crowd, they were with the team when we were down 17,” Itoudis said. “We were 5 out of 14 from two point-range initially, and that was 5 layups. When you can’t score, you need to have some consistency on the defensive end, which we didn’t have in the first quarter. But the players realized that they were playing wrong, and eventually they capitalized offensively [by using] good defense.”