The American guard came up big at crunch time to give the Montenegrin team a well-deserved win
Rasheed Sulaimon gives Buducnost the cutting edge against Besiktas
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 6 of 18
Regular Season
group b
Buducnost VOLI PodgoricaBUD
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Besiktas GAIN IstanbulBJK
group b
Overview
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Buducnost VOLI Podgorica ground out an 82-79 home win over Besiktas GAIN Istanbul on Tuesday in the BKT EuroCup to improve to 4-2, while the visitors dropped to the same record after a rip-roaring encounter at Moraca Sports Hall.
Rasheed Sulaimon stole the show as he bagged a game-high 20 points, including a crunch floater in the last minute of the game to settle a rollercoaster in which the lead changed hands time and again.
Sulaimon was a menace throughout, netting 8 points in the first quarter and 12 in the second half as the hosts erased a 9-point deficit and then spilled an identical lead, forcing the final twist thanks to the 31-year-old guard who showed nerves of steel in the home straight.
Juwan Morgan racked up 12 points, 6 boards and 3 steals for Buducnost, which shot 6 of 13 from downtown (46.2%) and managed 9 steals on the back of aggressive second-half defense.
Morgan credited an extraordinary team effort for the win. “They all believed in me and I believed in them,” he said in his postgame comments. “We had to lock in and grab the rebounds. It was a very strong team spirit and that’s what makes this team special. It could have been any guy’s night and we just keep rolling.”
Besiktas was well on top for the lion’s share of the first half, but paid the price for slowing down offensively in the last few minutes of the opening period, as Buducnost turned a 29-38 deficit into a 47-45 halftime lead which galvanized a passionate home crowd. Buducnost looked the more likely winner after carving out a 70-61 advantage at the end of the third quarter but was in trouble after Vitto Brown hit some tough shots in the fourth, giving the visiting team a 77-79 lead in the home straight.
Sulaimon then stepped up as Buducnost had the last laugh, much to the delight of head coach Andrej Zakelj.
“I must congratulate the players, we had some injuries before the game but they played through the pain as they had a very good approach and energy,” he said. “We made some mistakes but that’s part of the game. This will do a lot of good for our confidence as it's our sixth win in a row (in all competitions) after a poor start to the season, but we must keep our feet on the ground.”
Anthony Brown led the Besiktas effort as he amassed 15 points and 7 boards and Vitto Brown added 13 points, but the Turkish side committed 16 turnovers and shot a modest 10 of 27 from downtown in the wake of aggressive second-half defense from the hosts.
Besiktas head coach Dusan Alimpijevic struck a grim figure after his team fell short.
“Congrats to Buducnost, they had a good game and we also helped them a lot with our decisions on offense,” he said. “We missed some open shots in crunch time while they hit some tough, contested ones at the other end. They are well-coached and they’ve got some talented players who are good in one-on-one situations.”
