Melih Mahmutoglu gave Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul hope of turning around its Round 6 match against FC Barcelona by scoring all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, going 3-of-5 from deep and 1-of-1 from two-point range. Fenerbahce was unable to come away with the win on that occasion, losing 81-80, but Mahmutoglu kept his impressive shooting going in the team's 93-79 win at home to Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade in Round 7.
Mahmutoglu continued fine shooting form with career night
On a night when starter Scottie Wilbekin had just 1 point in just over 20 minutes on the floor, Mahmutoglu's 20 points in 16:24 was a welcome boost for head coach Dimitris Itoudis. The Fenerbahce captain went 1-of-2 on two-pointers (50.0% 2FG), but it was his accuracy from three-point distance that created the biggest headaches for Zvezda, as he made 5-of-9 (55.6% 3FG). Mahmutoglu also went 3-of-3 from the free-throw line.
All of this saw Mahmutoglu beat his previous EuroLeague career best of 19 points. At the 204th time of asking, he was able to get above the 20-point mark, and he recognized the importance of Fenerbahce recording a win on Thursday after suffering its first defeat of the season in Round 6.
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"We have to continue like this, because we have many important games in front of us. Congratulations to my team," said Mahmutoglu in his post-game interview.
After another fine shooting night, Mahmutoglu can feel delighted that his career night helped Fenerbahce improve to 6-1.