By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce turned last week’s victory into a streak after defeating Baskonia on the road with a 79-65 victory in Round 18 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Leo Westermann shined with a 21-point performance and made everyone forget the absence of injured starter Kostas Sloukas.
Derrick Williams also filled the stat sheet for the winning side with 16 points, five assists, and three rebounds, making an important contribution, considering the fact that Fenerbahce is still missing Jan Vesely in the front line.
On the opposing end, Tornike Shengelia paced the hosts with 21 points, while Youssoupha Fall posted 18 points.
Fenerbahce starts heating up the engine
Fenerbahce had the upper hand for the entirety of the game, starting off with strong defense in the first quarter and leading 20-11. Baskonia enjoyed a small run in the second, yet the visiting side kept a 42-28 advantage at halftime.
The picture of the game didn’t change much in the third period as the Turkish side stayed up 62-45, though Baskonia attempted a comeback in the fourth. An 11-9 run by the hosts in the midpoint of the final period wasn’t enough to keep them close to their visitors, who kept expanding their lead until the end, as Derrick Williams sealed the victory with a three-pointer with five seconds left in the game.
Fenerbahce has the homecourt advantage for the next three games, and coach Obradovic commented on that after the game.
“I believe we played a pretty good game. I exactly started to talk to the players about [playing the next three games at home], that it would be great to have any kind of advantage playing in our home court because until now, we lost a lot of games,” he mentioned. “Westermann shot the ball very well, 7 of 8 three-point shots is something very, very important. I believe that all the shots that we took were good other than some in which we didn’t move the ball well and didn’t find a good spot, but most shots were good. The most important thing is that our three big men combined for 11 assists and this gave us a lot. This is something we have to think about and continue playing this way, with all players feeling important and everybody helping the team in many ways.”
Baskonia now falls to a 7-11 record without managing to turn last week’s victory against Barcelona into a streak.
Photo: EuroLeague