Fenerbahce rallies in second half to beat Zalgiris 54
Fenerbahce Istanbul erased a 17-point third-quarter deficit before defeating visiting Zalgiris Kaunas 73-67 at Ulker Sports and Event Hall on Thursday night.
Marko Guduric led the way with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals for a PIR of 27, his best this season. He found great help from teammates Shemus Hazel, who scored all of his 13 points in the second half, and Achille Polonara, who had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
Edgaras Ulanovas set the tone for the visitors with 16 points and 7 rebounds, Karolis Lukosiunas recorded career-highs in three-pointers made (5) and points (15) and Marek Blazevic signed off a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds for Zalgiris.
The hosts had a slow start in offense and were held scoreless for the first 4 minutes. As such, when Ahmet Duverioglu managed to score the first bucket for Fenerbahce, the visitors had already built a 2-9 lead behind points by Ulanovas, Mantas Kalnietis and Lukosiunas. Melih Mahmutoglu capped a fastbreak with a layup to help his team reduce the gap to 5, but those were the only points any team would score for a 4-minute span. Gururic broke the trend from downtown to make it a one-possession game, but Lukas Lekavicius and Josh Nebo contributed on the other side to push Zalgiris to 7-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Ulanovas opened fire once the game resumed to extend it to 7-15. Even though Tarik Biberovic found a three-point play to help his team, Zalgiris signed off a 0-6 run capped by a tip-in by Blazevic to raise the difference to double-digits, 10-21, midway through the second quarter. Dyshawn Pierre and Duvieroglu showed up to start the hosts’ scoring engine, as Polonara finished a fastbreak to bring the hosts within 20-25. Lekavicius kept the visitors calm with the first Zalgiris three-pointer, which Nebo followed with a pair of free throws to restore a safe margin at 20-30. Fenerbahce found some relief from Duvieroglu and Pierre, who scored a buzzer-beating court-to-court layup that kept Zalgiris in sight, 24-30, at halftime.
Lukosiunas connected from downtown right after the intermission, and Blazevic banked a tough inside basket first, then drilled a mid-range jumper to bring Zalgiris to a double-digit advantage at 24-37. Polonara ended Fenerbahce’s offensive drought with a layup, but Kalnietis and Lukosiunas drained back-to-back triples that ripped it to 26-43. Hazer came up with a three of his own and Booker provided a strong alley-oop dunk that woke up Fenerbahce. Guduric followed with a three-point play that kept the hosts in the game, 34-45, after 27 minutes. The Serbian guard continued rocking with 4 more points and an assist for Biberovic and Hazer made it even tighter, 44-48, soon after. Lukosiunas came to the rescue for Zalgiris, nailing a redeeming triple that allowed Zalgiris to enter the fourth quarter still ahead, 44-51.
Fenerbahce had a powerful start to the fourth thanks to Guduric and Hazer. The former nailed a three and the latter brought the fans to their feet with a monster off-the-steal dunk that got the hosts within 49-51. Zalgiris didn’t panic, though, as Lukosiunas, Niels Giffey and Ulanovas answered quickly with one triple each to cool it down, 51-60. But Fenerbahce had not said its last word. Hazer scored inside, Biberovic contributed a three-point play and Polonara hit twice from behind the arc to tie it at 62-62 and set the stands on fire with 4 minutes remaining. Guduric completed the rally and got Fenerbahce ahead for the first time with a free throw. Then Hazer added a corner three to send the game to crunch time with the hosts leading 66-64. Ulanovas seemed to bring Zalgiris to the winning track with a triple entering the last minute, but Guduric replied from the same distance on the next possession to make it 69-67 with 43 seconds remaining. Kalnietis tried to take over on the other side, but he missed a three and was called for an offensive foul later that granted Devin Booker the chance of sealing the comeback from the line.
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