Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul thoroughly dominated the second half to beat Olympiacos Piraeus 94-80 on Tuesday night at Ulker Sports and Event Hall. Playing its first game without injured stars Jan Vesely and Nando De Colo, Fenerbahce used its depth as a weapon with six players scoring in double figures. The result lifted Fenerbahce to 8-10 and ended Olympiacos’s three-game winning streak to send the Reds’ record to 12-6.
Fenerbahce roars in second half to beat Olympiacos, 94-80
Fenerbahce captain Melih Mahmutoglu led all scorers with 17 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting. Achille Polonara posted 15 points and 7 rebounds, DyShawn Pierre scored 14, Devin Booker tallied 12 points and 5 assists, Pierria Henry paired 11 points with 8 assists and Marko Guduric added 11 points and 5 assists. Former Fenerbahce star Kostas Sloukas led Olympiacos with 14 points, 7 assists and 4 steals. Tyler Dorsey also scored 14, Georgios Printezis and Kostas Papanikolaou netted 12 points apiece and Hassan Martin had 10.
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Sehmus Hazer starts Round 20 with a bang by throwing down an alley-oop slam courtesy of Henry’s assist. Sasha Vezenkov made a neat wrap-around pass to Moustapha Fall to get the Reds on the board. A triple by Polonara gave Fenerbahce a 6-2 start. Olympiacos scored the next 5 points – including a triple by Thomas Walkup – to take its first lead. Pierre stepped up with an assist, a layup and a block to push the hosts back in front. Printezis shined for Olympiacos with a basket inside, a few rebounds and 2 free throws to give Olympiacos the lead. Papanikolaou drive the baseline for a layup that capped a 0-8 run to end the quarter with Olympiacos on top 11-17.
Henry took the game by the horns at the start of the second quarter with a contested layup, an assist and 3 free throws in a 7-0 run. Shaquielle McKissic took charge for the Reds with a monster jam and an assist to Printezis for a triple and a 20-22 lead, but was shortly after helped off the court with a lower-body injury and did not return. Printezis added another three and Sloukas made one too as the lead reached 24-28. Henry wowed the crowd with a reverse layup that made it 28-30 midway through the quarter. Back-to-back threes by Mahmutoglu and Polonara had the crowd on its feet with the hosts back in the lead. Coach Bartzokas was ejected with 2 technical fouls during an Olympiacos timeout. Mahmutoglu made the resulting free throws for a 36-32 advantage. Papanikolaou made a layup and free throws in the final minute to give Olympiacos a 36-39 lead at the break.
Hazer evened the game with a three from the corner and Booker hot from the top of the key to put the hosts in front. Papanikolaou tied it with a triple only to see back-to-back threes by Booker and Polonara make it 50-44. Scoreless in the first half, Dorsey nailed a pair of threes in a 0-8 Olympiacos run. The lead continued to swing back and forth before Henry’s basket-plus-foul and turnovers on five straight Olympiacos possessions helped the hosts jump in front 61-54 on a Guduric triple. Sloukas revived Olympiacos with a triple and free throws, but Pierre beat the third-quarter buzzer with a three for a 66-59 lead.
Guduric gave Fenerbahce the game’s first double-digit lead to open the fourth quarter. Jehyve Floyd dunked and Metecan Birsen added a three to complete an 11-0 run going back to the third quarter. A basket by Martin did little to change the momentum. A pair of threes by Mahmutoglu further stretched the lead and Polonara added an alley-oop. Mahmutoglu’s fourth three of the night gave Fenerbahce its biggest lead, 89-69. Some late threes helped Olympiacos trim the deficit, but the outcome was already secure.