In a tight contest, the Turkish side used the second and third quarter to secure the victory
Fenerbahce rebounds with 71-78 road win over ALBA
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul bounced back from its disappointing Round 3 home loss to Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade by defeating ALBA Berlin 71-78 on the road on Thursday night. After scoring just 57 points against Crvena Zvezda, Fenerbahce drained 10-of-13 three-pointers in the first half and ended up improving to a 3-1 record.
Nigel Hayes-Davis scored a team-high 14 points, Wade Baldwin had 13, Tarik Biberovic hit 4 three-pointers for 12 points and Nicolo Melli also chipped in 12 points in the victory. ALBA missed a chance for a perfect double-round week which would have been the team’s first back-to-back wins since Rounds 33 and 34 of the 2022-23 season. Matteo Spagnolo and Martin Hermannsson both tallied 13 points to pace ALBA, which dropped to 1-2.
Despite playing in front of essentially a home crowd in Berlin’s Uber Arena, Fenerbahce needed nearly three minutes to score with a free throw and missed its first eight shots as it fell behind 8-1 before Devon Hall scored a layup at the 5:32-minute mark. After five straight Fenerbahce points cut the gap to two points, ALBA’s combo of Khalifa Koumadje and Trevion Williams helped push the lead to 16-9. The guests got two more triples from Arturs Zagars and Biberovic and the score was 16-15 after 10 minutes.
Fenerbahce remained ice-cold from inside the three-point stripe early on in the second quarter at 1 for 12 but was red-hot from long range, going 6 for 12 as Biberovic and Dyshawn Pierre added triples to help put Fenerbahce 20-21 ahead. Pierre and Biberovic each added another triple – the latter up to four three-pointers already – and Fenerbahce led 24-28. Melli joined the party with a triple and Fenerbahce was ahead 28-35. And Hayes-Davis made it a 10th triple in the first half right before the buzzer to lead 31-38 at the break.
Fenerbahce's impressive outside shooting continued at the start of the second, with Hayes-Davis hitting from downtown to start the third quarter and Baldwin making it 31-43 soon after. ALBA fought to stay close and triples from Williams and Louis Olinde had the hosts within 45-50. Baldwin had a strong third quarter with nine points and his production pushed Fenerbahce’s cushion out to 11 points, 45-56. The guests were leading 47-58 after 30 minutes.
Alba needed more than two minutes to score in the fourth quarter as it could not take advantage of Fenerbahce needing almost three minutes to add to the scoreboard with a Melli three-pointer for a 49-61 lead. A mini 6-0 surge had ALBA within 58-64 with four minutes left. Fenerbahce answered with a 2-7 spurt to reestablish an 11-point advantage with under three minutes to play. The home side trimmed the margin to six points, but Hayes-Davis iced the game with a three-point play with 16 seconds left for a 69-78 lead.