The Turkish side trailed just twice on the night, which came early in the first quarter
Hayes-Davis leads the way as Fenerbahce downs Partizan, 89-72
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul made a season-high 19 three-pointers and improved to 5-2 as it beat Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 89-72 in Round 7, with Nigel Hayes-Davis scoring a game-best 24 points.
Hayes-Davis contributed 4 of those 19 triples. Tarik Biberovic hit 5 on his way to 17 points, Devon Hall made 4 and finished with 12 points, while Wade Baldwin – Fenerbahce’s other scorer in double digits – converted 1 en route to 13 points. Dyshawn Pierre and Marko Guduric both knocked down 2, and Bonzie Colson struck from beyond the arc with his only three-point attempt.
Partizan’s Frank Ntilikina netted a team-high 14 points, which all came in the second half, and Aleksej Pokusevski chipped in with 10. Duane Washington got his first points in a Partizan jersey, scoring 7 after not playing at all in the first half. Partizan dropped to 2-5 after this defeat.
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Pokusevski scored the first basket of the game (0-2) and Tyrique Jones responded to a Colson layup by scoring a hook shot to put Partizan 2-4 ahead. Those were Partizan’s only two leads of the game. The first half was a tight affair as both teams favored going inside, but as soon as Hall hit a three-pointer in transition to give Fenerbahce an 11-8 edge, that opened the floodgates from deep. Back-to-back triples by Hayes-Davis made it 17-13, then Biberovic’s three-pointer saw the hosts go seven points ahead, 20-13. At the end of the first quarter, it was 22-15.
There was a fightback from Partizan to start the second period, mainly led by Brandon Davies, but the visitors could not live with Fenerbahce’s three-point weapons. Biberovic, Guduric and Pierre all combined from beyond the arc to swell Fenerbahce’s lead to 36-23. When Hall scored his second three-pointer of the night, Fenerbahce was up 41-27 after going 9 of 15 from deep. Carlik Jones got his first points for Partizan in the closing stages of the second quarter, netting 4 points in quick succession, but a tough three by Biberovic ensured it was 44-31 at the interval.
Fenerbahce shot 10 of 16 from three-point land in the first half compared to 1 of 5 by Partizan. If Zeljko Obradovic thought that the hosts would cool off, he was wrong. Straight out of the break, Hayes-Davis hit back-to-back triples to push Fenerbahce 50-33 ahead. Tyrique Jones was doing his best to do damage in the paint, but Fenerbahce continued to light it up, with Hall, Colson and Baldwin all striking from deep to set a 63-43 score. Washington scored his first points as a Partizan player, then Ntilikina started to show what he can do, scoring 8 points in a hurry, including Partizan’s second triple. Entering the final period, Fenerbahce led 67-53.
Ntilikina gave Partizan hope with a dunk (67-55), but Biberovic made two three-pointers in a row to create some breathing room once again (73-55). Fenerbahce remained in control from there on out, but coach Saras Jasikevicius did call a timeout with 2:47 left after Ntilikina’s drive and score made it a 13-point ballgame (83-70), the closest it had been in a while. That refocused the Fenerbahce players, with Hayes-Davis, Biberovic and Baldwin scoring inside the final 2:32 to wrap up an 89-72 win.