The visitors almost flipped the script in the final minutes, but McKinley Wright’s potential game-winning floater fell just short.
Turk Telekom holds on to beat Buducnost, 79-77

Turk Telekom Ankara has its first win of the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup Regular Season after defeating Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 79-77 at Ankara Spor Salonu on Wednesday night. The Turkish side led for the final three and a half quarters, but a McKinley Wright floater almost saw the visitors send the game to overtime.
Jalen Adams had a team-high 18 points for Turk Telekom, which also had James Palmer (16 points), Tyrone Wallace (14) and Steven Enoch (14) score in double figures. Enoch also grabbed 12 rebounds as he recorded his first double-double in the EuroCup. For Buducnost, Brandon Paul netted a game-high 19 points after hitting 5 three-pointers, while Wright was the only other player to score 10 or more, finishing with 14.
Game Leaders
Buducnost took the first lead of the game, going 0-3 ahead after Vladimir Mihailovic converted a three-point play, but that proved to be the visitors’ only lead of the night. That is because Palmer ended up pacing Turk Telekom with 8 first-quarter points en route to a 25-20 advantage after 10 minutes.
An Aleksa Ilic dunk over Markis McDuffie cut the gap to 3 points, 25-22, at the start of the second period, but 10 straight points for Turk Telekom saw it pull away again, 35-22. Buducnost playmaker Wright scored his first points of the game with a triple not long after, 35-25, but another run by the hosts saw them head into the final seconds with a 50-35 margin. Yet, a buzzer-beating triple by Wright meant that it was a 12-point game, 50-38, at halftime.
Game Videos
Turk Telekom tried to keep its foot on the gas in the third quarter, but Buducnost refused to go away. In fact, the visitors managed to trim the deficit to single digits at various points, while Turk Telekom guard Wallace began to wobble at the line, ending a run of 19 straight made free throws four and a half minutes into the third. However, a mixture of Adams, Wallace and Enoch did enough to ensure that Turk Telekom finished the quarter ahead by 11 points, 69-58.
As the game began to draw to a close, Buducnost did enough to stay within reach. Despite going down by 14 points, 74-60, following an Adams three, Colbey Ross came up big with 5 points before Paul nailed his fourth and fifth three-pointers of the night, which made it a 79-77 ballgame entering the final 1:17. Then, Wright had the chance to send the game to overtime, but his floater came up short, meaning Turk Telekom’s players could celebrate the win.