By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
After a rocky start to the season, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul grabbed its fourth straight win by taking down TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 96-76 at home for Round 19 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and taking revenge, as Baskonia had won their first meeting this season in Round 9 with an 86-68 win in November.
Nando De Colo orchestrated Fenerbahce‘s offensive efforts and led the Turkish club with a EuroLeague season-high of 27 points and 3 assists and Jan Vesely followed with 17 points and 4 assists. Lorenzo Brown pushed Fener‘s lead to 20 points with 2 minutes remaining in the third period, while he produced 14 points overall. Baskonia never returned from the 20-point mark and the hosts celebrated a morale-boosting victory with ease.
“We did a great job tonight. I think we got really focused on our defense and this brought energy on offense. We tried to play together, respect what Coach wanted on defense first, and after we just moved the ball and we are fine. It is a long season, everyone needs to be ready. We missed Danilo Barthel, but everybody stepped up and everybody keeps working hard to be a better team”, said the protagonist of the night, De Colo.
On the other end of the court, Alec Peters paced the Spanish side with 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Zoran Dragic and Achille Polonara posted 12 points each. Baskonia slipped to a 9-10 record after a three-game winning streak and will look to bounce back against Maccabi on Thursday.
Fenerbahce will look to keep up its momentum when they face Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on Friday for Round 20.
Photo: EuroLeague