With the defending champions missing six players due to injury, THT delivered when it mattered most
Talen Horton-Tucker lifts shorthanded Fenerbahce past Carsen Edwards, Virtus
Ανάλυση αγώνα
3 Χρόνος Ανάγνωσης
Regular Season
Round 23 of 38
Regular Season
Virtus BolognaVIR
8085
Fenerbahce Beko IstanbulFBB
Overview
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Down six players – including starting point guard Wade Baldwin, who was a late scratch – Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul needed a hero at Virtus Bologna. Talen Horton-Tucker answered the call.
The problem was that Carsen Edwards had the same idea.
The Virtus guard poured in 15 points in the first quarter and had 19 by halftime as the hosts built a 47-40 lead. But everything flipped after the break. Fenerbahce dialed up its championship-level defense, holding Virtus to just 33 second-half points and escaping with an 80-85 win.
It was only Virtus’s third home loss of the season at Virtus Arena, where it has looked nearly unbeatable. Horton-Tucker’s career-high 28 points – including a personal-best 4 made three-pointers – proved just enough to fend off Edwards, who finished with 35 points, one shy of his own career high.
“He had a great performance,” Horton-Tucker said of Edwards. “They’re a good team, well coached. They played hard the whole game and gave us a great test. At this point of the season, we’re just trying to scrap out wins.”
In his rookie EuroLeague season, the 25-year-old guard has become a phenomenon for the ease with which he gets downhill. Few players can match his strength or physicality attacking the rim. And if Horton-Tucker continues to grow as a perimeter threat – he has scored in double figures in nine straight games and is averaging 14.8 points per game – it’s hard to see how defenses can contain him.
Case in point: With the shot clock winding down late, Horton-Tucker calmly stepped left and buried a triple over Saliou Niang with 23 seconds remaining, a sequence sure to haunt opposing coaches.
There’s more to his impact than scoring. Horton-Tucker’s basketball IQ allows him to punish help defense, regularly kicking out to open shooters when his drives draw multiple defenders. With Baldwin unavailable to organize the offense, Horton-Tucker’s aggressiveness in Bologna helped Fenerbahce control the tempo.
“Everybody’s helping him,” coach Saras Jasikevicius told EuroLeague TV. “We’re a team. I’m helping, the veteran players are helping him. It’s a process. Obviously, he’s doing really well. The best thing about him is there’s still so much room for improvement.”
Without Baldwin, Bonzie Colson, Brandon Boston Jr., new signing Chris Silva, Scottie Wilbekin and Arturs Zagars, it would have been easy for Fenerbahce to fold, especially after trailing by seven at halftime. Instead, the defending champions showed their resolve, starting on the defensive end.
Virtus went seven minutes and eight seconds without a field goal to open the third quarter and managed just 13 points in the period.
“It’s a great character win for our guys,” Jasikevicius said. “We’re extremely shorthanded, and a lot was going against us. Holding them to 33 points in the second half is a completely different picture than the first. When you play this type of defense, you’re going to make some shots.”
One player who embodied Fenerbahce’s second-half turnaround was Tarik Biberovic. Scoreless at halftime, the 24-year-old erupted for 15 points after the break, including 10 in the fourth quarter, while also making his presence felt defensively.
“I was mad at myself, honestly,” Biberovic said. “I couldn’t deal with it, so I put all my anger into the second half. I started on defense and then the shots came. That was the story.”
With the win, Fenerbahce improved to 15-7, its sixth victory in seven games, and moved into second place in the standings ahead of Friday’s matchup with Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. Virtus fell to 10-11 and will look to bounce back Friday against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade.
