By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Trailing for the vast majority of the time, Fenerbahce managed to turn things around late in the game against Zalgiris Kaunas to give Sarunas Jasikevicius – who played against his beloved green-and-white former team – his second straight victory since being in charge of the Turkish team, winning 80-78.
It was a thrilling game with the guests fighting until the end, but ultimately the home side was better in crunchtime.
Contributing mostly from beyond the three-point line (5/7), Scottie Wilbekin ended the game with 15 points as his team’s hero for the final result.
Tyler Dorsey had a huge contribution as well, shooting excellently (4/5 2FG, 2/3 3FG, 5/5 FT) and concluding the encounter with 19 points. Johnathan Motley was massive for Sarunas Jasikevicius’ team as well, ending with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.
“I bring new things and confuse my players a little but there is no other way”, Jasikevicius said after the game. “We can’t concede 46 points in the first half. We didn’t foul, we weren’t there. But our reaction was perfect. We fought well in the second half”.
Playing against his former Lithuanian head coach in Barcelona, Rolands Smits went close to a double-double with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
Keenan Evans had 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists on the road but missed the shot to go to overtime. Laurynas Birutis had an unexpected contribution under the rim for the Lithuanians with 14 points.
“I got lucky”
The Lithuanian team found itself ahead in the first minutes of the game, getting the largest lead of the game by separating itself from the contenders in Istanbul by 14 points (40-26) midway through the second quarter.
With 5:28 minutes to go in the third quarter, Scottie Wilbekin reduced the deficit only to four points (53-49) banking in a clutch three-pointer in transition from the left corner.
The Turkish team completed the comeback (62-60) at 9:02 in the fourth with a three-pointer by Marko Guduric and went on to extend the lead to seven points (77-70).
Edmond Sumner and Keenan Evans brought Zalgiris Kaunas back within one point (77-76) in the final stretch, but Tyler Dorsey made things clear with a 2+1 play behind the backboard to give his team the eventual victory.
As he said: “Growing up, we were taught to throw the ball into the basket as soon as we heard the whistle. Of course, I don’t practice this, but I got lucky today (Laughs).”
On the other hand, Zalgiris coach Kazys Maksvytis was satisfied with the effort but not with the result: “Both teams deserved to win tonight, but only one team wins in basketball, so congratulations to Fenerbahce. I don’t have anything bad to say about my players. We fought very hard until the end of the match. We slowed down a little in the second half and this caused us to lose.”
Completing the double-game week, Zalgiris Kaunas will host another former team coached by Sarunas Jasikevicius on December 22 at 19:00 CET. On the same day, the yellow-and-blue Turkish team will travel to Berlin to meet ALBA at 20:15 CET.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague