The Lithuanian side notched its third straight win
Wolves come from behind to sink Besiktas, 93-78
Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius rallied from a 14-point deficit and used a huge third quarter to beat the visiting Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul 93-78 on Tuesday night. Wolves registered their third straight win and first at home, which has seen them improve to 3-3 in Group A, the same record as Besiktas.
The visitors hit 7 triples in the first quarter and were 10 for 14 in the second as they led 22-36, but as soon as those threes stopped falling, Wolves erased the margin, took over the lead and then raced away to a 20-point lead in the third quarter.
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Tre'Shawn Thurman had 19 points for Wolves and Marek Blazevic collected 16 points plus 10 rebounds in the win. Andrew Andrews scored 18, Anthony Cowan Jr. finished with 15 points, and Matas Jogela had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Besiktas's Derek Needham and Conor Morgan scored 19 apiece, while Dustin Sleva had 11.
Both teams went with an up-tempo style early on. Needham and Morgan each hit a three-pointer in the opening five minutes, but the Wolves used six points from Marek Blazevic and a monster dunk from Matas Jogela to open a 10-7 lead. Kelan Martin ended Besiktas's drought with a corner triple as teams proceeded to trade leads. Garrison Brooks and Thurman, who scored 8 points, went to work inside for the hosts, while Dustin Selva netted two threes and Yigit Arslan one for Besiktas. Another corner triple from Martin helped the visitors to open 20-26 lead after 10 minutes.
The second quarter started with a triple from Needham, and he had a layup with 8:12 left in the half, the team's first two-pointer of the game. Another three from Needham and a second-chance basket from Sleva made it 22-36. But Wolves scored the next 10 points, with Blazevic scoring inside before Kristupas Zemaitis and Jogela hit back-to-back shots from the outside to cut it to 32-36. Sleva snapped a run with his third three-pointer and Martin had a three-point play, but three-pointers from Andrews and Thurman helped tie things at 42-42. A three-point play from Andrews put the hosts in front, and the same player scored again to make it 47-42 at halftime.
Needham opened the second half with a tough triple, but a three from Anthony Cowan and a nifty floater from Blazevic put Wolves up 56-45. Jogela added one basket inside and one from the outside, and Miniotas scored on a fast break to cap an 11-0 run and open a 67-47 margin. A long three from Andrews and a driving layup from Cowan extended the margin to 76-52, with the hosts taking a 78-56 lead into the fourth quarter.
The hosts' offense slowed down in the final 10 minutes, but Besiktas kept struggling offensively, too. A 0-14 run fueled by a triple apiece from Morgan and Needham cut it to 84-73, capped by a fast-break layup from Needham. But Cowan netted a long triple, and Jogela's put-back restored an 89-73 score, icing the game.