The Turkish side just had too many weapons, while the visitors' struggles continue
Bahcesehir downs Joventut, 89-78, for sixth straight victory
Bahcesehir College Istanbul confirmed its spot atop Group A at the halfway point of the regular season after beating Joventut Badalona 89-78 at home for a sixth straight victory. Coming off the national team break, the Turkish side did not look rusty at all in improving to 8-1.
Jaleen Smith scored 17 points to pace four Bahcesehir players in double figures including Sehmus Hazer with 15, Axel Bouteille 13 and Marko Simonovic had 11 points. Four more players had at least seven points. Joventut has now lost five of its last six games for a 3-6 record. Sam Dekker led the Spanish side with 22 points, Ante Tomic scored 18 points, Artem Pustovyi chipped in 17 points. Devon Dotson was held to 5 points, 10.1 below his average of 15.1.
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Bahcesehir opened the game hot from long range, with Smith and CJ Massinburg both hitting two three-pointers apiece for a 16-6 lead. A second basket from Tai Odiase had the cushion up to 19-8. Joventut went inside to Pustovyi, who had 9 points in cutting the deficit to 23-19. The score was 26-21 after 10 minutes.
Dekker stepped up in the second quarter with a three-pointer among 7 points as Joventut evened the game 31-31. Hazer countered with a three-point play and Bouteille and Smith both drained three-pointers as the gap grew to 44-35. And the hosts scored the final seven points of the first half to lead 51-38 at the break.
A Tyler Cavanaugh free throw increased the cushion to 52-38 to start the second half. Yannick Kraag tried to get Joventut back into the game with 5 straight points to make it 52-45. Bouteille answered with 4 points at the other end while Dekker had Joventut within 61-54, but it was 66-56 after 30 minutes.
Simonovic started the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to re-establish a 13-point lead and every time Joventut tried to get close Bahcesehir would answer. That was until back-to-back three-pointers by Dekker to finish a 4-12 surge to get the gap down to 75-70 with 5 minutes to go. Mateusz Ponitka punched back with a triple of his own and the hosts were back to scoring with consistency again as two Simonovic scores making it 84-73 with just more than a minute to go.