Nigel Hayes-Davis had a telling contribution, grabbing a season-high 11 rebounds
Road warrior Fenerbahce powered the boards in win at Zalgiris
Stats
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 10 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul dominated the glass during its 65-72 win at Zalgiris Kaunas in Round 10 as the Turkish side became the first team to win at Zalgirio Arena this season.
On its way to a fifth consecutive victory, the guests outrebounded Fenerbahce 33-45, pulling down as many as 14 offensive boards. Those 45 rebounds tied its season high, which was set in a 73-77 road victory against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in Round 8.
During its current winning streak, Fenerbahce is averaging 38.8 rebounds per night, pulling down 13.4 offensive rebounds. Its opponents combined for an average of 31.8 boards and just 9.6 offensive rebounds.
Nigel Hayes-Davis finished the game with 18 points and 11 rebounds for its third EuroLeague career double-double. He previously had double-doubles with Fenerbahce against Real Madrid last March and against ALBA Berlin in February 2023.
"We made it difficult for ourselves. We did a fantastic, fantastic job in the second quarter," Hayes-Davis said after the game. "We knew they would come out and fight, and we did not respond well at all and put ourselves in a dogfight. But we showed great character amongst ourselves and were able to come out with a win in a very tough arena."
Fenerbahce drew 28 fouls and hit 25-of-29 free throws. Those 25 free throws made are the most by the club in a non-overtime game since hitting as many, in 32 attempts, against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on April 20, 2018. Fenerbahce did not shoot the ball well (39.4% 2FG, 28.0% 3FG) and finished the game with a season-low 9 assists, but forced Zalgiris to even poorer percentages (37.2% 2FG, 25.0% 3FG); its hustle and rebounding power did the rest.
Fenerbahce is the only EuroLeague team not to lose on the road so far this season, but Hayes-Davis didn't want to focus too much on that.
"It's the EuroLeague, anything can happen," he said. "So the mindset, as I've been saying in the past couple of weeks, is to try to improve. First of all, try to get better and then try to win while we are doing it."