The Turkish side hit 17 triples on 29 attempts to counteract the Georgian’s 35 points in 29 minutes
Fenerbahce’s shooters overpowered Toko Shengelia’s career night
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Regular Season
Round 24 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul dominated Virtus Segafredo Bologna 95-81 in Round 24 to record its sixth win in a row and improve its record to 17-7, which allowed Saras Jasikevicius’s men to stay hot on the heels of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague leader Olympiacos Piraeus, which was also victorious later on Friday night.
But despite being ahead from the fourth minute, when Sertac Sanli scored the first three-pointer of the game, Fenerbahce had to fight until the fourth quarter to get rid of Virtus, which despite missing Ante Zizic and Will Clyburn found a weapon of mass destruction in Toko Shengelia.
The Georgian forward sustained the Italian team’s offense thanks to a career-high 35 points after shooting 10 for 14 from two, 2 for 3 from behind the arc, and 9 for 10 from the line, good for a career-best PIR of 39.
But Fenerbahce found an accurate response for that jaw-dropping display – it came from several players but from the same place: the three-point line.
The hosts finished with 17 three-pointers made from 29 attempts (58.6% 3FG), with 15 of them coming in the last three periods and 11 in the second half. Three in row were good to solidify a double-digit lead right after the intermission, and another spurt in the last quarter sealed the outcome, 89-70, less than 3 minutes before the end.
“I think we did some things that we didn't do in the first two quarters,” Coach Jasikevicius recognized after the game. “I thought we moved the ball better. I thought we found the outside passes, so then the three-point shots, a lot more than in the first half.
“In the first half, it was five or six turnovers when we were passing the ball inside. Then we moved the ball better and find more shots and like we always say everything looks much better when you hit the three-point shots.”
Those three-point shots came from 9 different players, including one from Melih Mahmutoglu that helped him reach the 1,000-point mark in his career. Besides him, Errick McCollum and Bonzie Colson had 1 apiece, Nicolo Melli, Nigel Hayes-Davis, Tarik Biberovic and Arturs Zagars got 2 each, while Sanli hit 3 without missing and Marko Guduric also drained 3 but they came on 4 attempts.
“It's a blessing. I'm just happy that that we are able to play this type of basketball,” Guduric celebrated.
And many of those triples came after excellent ball circulation, which turned into 20 assists for the team.
“I didn’t know that,” Guduric admitted. “I mean, we just had good energy from the start. I’m happy for my teammates. Bonzie was really good in the first quarter, in the first half, getting offensive rebounds, [and providing] great energy. Arturs made shots, Tarik made a couple, too. Nicolo, Sertac, of course.
“Yeah, it was a great team win, and like you said, 20 assists is a good number.”