By Stefan Djordjevic / info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce BEKO started off the game better but Valencia bounced back and grabbed a 90-86 road win in Round 11 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Valencia improved to 7-3 compared to Fener‘s 4-7 record.
Sam Van Rossom banked in 20 points for Valencia including a number of crucial shots in crunch time while Derrick Williams and Klemen Prepelic added 13 each. Bojan Dubljevic scored 11 along with eight boards.
For Fenerbahce, Dyshawn Pierre scored 18 in addition to Bobby Dixon‘s 16 and Lorenzo Brown’s 15 points.
Both teams showed good preparation for this game and featured great ball movement most of the match. A relatively fast-paced duel in which Fenerbahce having the initial advantage at halftime (43-33).
The main difference to Fener‘s advantage was the board control, especially on the offensive side and a much tougher and more direct play overall which secured them plenty of trips to the line.
Coach Jaume Ponsarnau found a way to ‘wake up’ his squad: “We understood that it was most important to change our physical work in the game, change the defense, fight for rebounds, change a lot of things. For us, it was very important to show our best mentality. Once this mentality changed, we found inspiration for Sam [Van Rossom], for [Klemen] Prepelic and other players, and this is the way for victories in the EuroLeague.”
Valencia came out of the locker room with a lot more energy in the second half and Prepelic’s three shots from deep sparked a comeback (64-59) and they carried on the momentum in the fourth quarter. Van Rossom was on fire in crunch time as he kept Valencia ahead and despite a late comeback effort by Fener, the Spaniards closed the deal.
“We had our chances. I think the way we opened the game, obviously, in the first half it was completely … we saw two different teams. It has happened a couple of times this year. We couldn’t sustain, we couldn’t go through the full 40 minutes, and playing a good team like Valencia, you pay the price. Honestly, I can’t pick the game when we didn’t play hard. Usually coaches are hiding behind effort. We talk about the effort wasn’t there. Effort on most nights, like tonight, wasn’t a problem. I think we played hard. But on this level you have to play smart and you have to play well,” Igor Kokoskov said.