The Turkish side broke its first-quarter scoring record in the EuroCup and then closed shop in the fourth
High-scoring Besiktas fired on all cylinders against hapless Trefl
Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul ultimately made light work of its 79-100 win at Trefl Sopot after setting a club record of 32 points in the first quarter, before holding the Polish team to a mere 5 in the fourth to keep its postseason bid going strong.
Besiktas was lethal from deep in the first half and made 8 of 13 shots from downtown, finishing on 14-of-29 shooting as the Turkish side also sank 21 of 37 from two-point territory and 16 of 17 from the foul line.
The visiting team’s utter dominance in all departments was also illustrated by 26 assists and 11 offensive boards, 8 of which came in the second half as Besiktas romped away in the fourth quarter when it held the home team to a mere 5 points.
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Alongside four visiting players scoring in double figures, led by Jonah Mathews who poured a game-high 21 points, big man Emanuel Terry stuffed the stat sheet with 8 points and as many rebounds to go with 5 assists.
His contribution underlined a flowing team effort which left Besiktas head Dusan Alimpijevic coach purring with delight: “I am very happy because we kept them down to only 28 points in the second half, when we also improved our desire to go for offensive rebounds,” Alimpijevic said in his post-game comments. “We totally changed our defensive approach while the offense was already there. It was a good game."
In contrast, it was another difficult evening for Sopot’s Croatian head coach Zan Tabak, who faces the formidable task of turning around his team’s fortunes.
“We played against a stronger team but towards the end of the game, we just gave up,” he said. “We now have to try to lift the team in the next few days for the upcoming games.”
In the next round, Besiktas is at home to the competition’s 2023 winner Dreamland Gran Canaria while Trefl entertains Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv in an effort to chalk up its first EuroCup win of the season.