By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The final score was 90-73 but doesn’t tell the story of the game. Fenerbahce managed to get the home win after playing with fire for three quarters and letting ALBA believe they had a chance.
In the end, however, the talent and quality of the home side made things easy and quite expected.
Sertac Sanli with 18 points was the top scorer of the winning side, while Marko Guduric and Nigel Hayes-Davis scored 14 points each, making key buckets down the stretch.
“Winning was the most important thing, not the points I scored”, admitted Sanli who was released by the final result: “We played by sharing the ball in the last quarter. We did not play physically enough in the first half, we were not good in offense and defense. Instead of playing our own game, we played individually…We need to play every game like in the last quarter.”
Gabriele Procida with 14 points was the top scorer of ALBA which remains last in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings with a 3-17 record.
On the other hand, Fenerbahce is back on track with a 12-7 record, having played one game less.
Fenerbahce woke up in the fourth
The game was a nightmare for Fenerbahce for 33 minutes.
After the home side’s poor 16-11 lead in the first quarter, ALBA trailed by three (37-34) at halftime and by one (61-60) entering the fourth period.
With seven minutes left, the guests even got the 67-66 lead thanks to a three by Yanni Wetzell while ALBA was shooting with more than 50% in threes.
However, that was the end of the German dream. Fenerbahce finally got things under control and, with a partial score of 14-2, built a solid 80-69 advantage and set things straight.
In the end, the score of the fourth period was 29-13 and there was no coming back for ALBA which finished the game with a solid 40% in threes (8/20), but missed when it counted the most.
Photo credit: EuroLeague