By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce Istanbul grabbed a morale-boosting 74-70 victory against Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv on the road, for Round 9 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Kostas Sloukas was the leading scorer of the game with 18 points, while Marko Guduric was the catalyst to Fenerbahce’s win, adding the majority of his 13 points during the final period. The Serbian guard also finished with 3/3 from behind the arch.
A little bit of tough love before the end of the first half from Zeljko Obradovic on the bench really pushed the visitors towards improving on both sides of the court during the second. The hosts still found a way to trim the deficit to three points with about a minute to go, but their efforts to tie the score fell to no avail as a pair of free-throws by Jan Vesely (11 p.) sealed the fate of the game.
Maccabi is trying to adjust through a transitional phase under the orders of coach Sfairopoulos, but its poor 1-8 record in the competition has the Israelis with their backs to the wall. However, the Greek coach saw some positive signs in his team’s game, based on the difficulty of this week “It’s the first time in my career that we practice only once ahead of two EuroLeague games and the first time I congratulated my players after the loss, because they played with great desire”.
Still, Scottie Wilbekin, who will be joining the Turkish NT next week with Maccabi’s permission, added a team-high of 15 points.
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