By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Buducnost VOLI prevailed over Darussafaka Tefken Istanbul in Podgorica with a 75-74 win in Round 18 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
The always productive Norris Cole handed the victory to his team with a key shot in the final three seconds of the game, while he finished with 17 points, as the Montenegrin side ends the week with a 4-14 record.
Edwin Jackson led the winners with a stunning 18-point performance (4/5 from afar), along with one rebound and one steal.
Norris Cole drains the GAME-WINNER pic.twitter.com/7mU6tFssUE
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Last-placed Darussafaka (2-16) was trailing by five in the third quarter (58-53), though managed to trim the deficit in the final one. However, Toney Douglas (14 p.) and Jeremy Evans (12 p.) weren’t enough to seal this road victory, despite the Turkish side’s one-point advantage with 13 seconds remaining.
It has to be noted that despite being up by one (73-72), the hosts decided to foul in order to get the last possession, sending Kartal Ozmizrak to the charity line. He made both his shots (74-73) and set the stage for Norris Cole’s dagger.
As winning coach Jasmin Repesa said: “It is easy to see we are a little bit confused in some parts of the game, and some others we are playing well. But we definitely made a big mistake in the first half by playing their style, the half-court game. They had a really big advantage, are more physical and have many good shooters. Congratulations to my players because they believed until the end. We won the game; that’s most important. Honestly, not playing a good game, but it was the most important thing, winning the game.”
Goga Bitadze and Coty Clark added 11 points each for the winners.