Fenerbahce Ulker, Anadolou Efes share TBL lead

Turkey TBL – A win by Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul on the road over Royal Hali Gaziantep 59-71, allowed them to keep pace with league leader Anadolu Efes Istanbul. Anadolu Efes came away with a road win as well a day earlier over Trabzonspor Basketbol, 71-97. Both Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahce Ulker have identical 13-4 records and are separated by tiebreakers. Both clubs are one game ahead of Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul (12-5), which unfortunately fell to 12th-ranked Ronesans TED Kolejliler Ankara in a close game, 91-93.

Both Banvit BK and Besiktas suffered losses in Round 17 as well. Both clubs are now 10-7 and slide to sixth and seventh places, respectively. Galatasaray Liv Hospital Istanbul’s key win over Banvit gives them a 10-7 record, but tiebreakers lift them ahead of the two aforementioned teams.

It was an easy, convincing win for Fenerbahce Ulker and they met and exceeded expectations as early as the first quarter of the game. Zeljko Obradovic’s boys came out strong and were all business from the opening whistle. The visitors quickly rushed to a 5-24 lead after the end of the first frame and did not look back from there. Royal Hali did make an attempt to get back into the game in the second quarter and did manage to slash the lead to single digits by halftime, 30-38.

After the break, Jan Vesely and company took control of the game and once again Fenerbahce Ulker stretched their lead over their hosts. Royal Hali only played eight players in this encounter and they could have used the reinforcements. Their starters were outmatched and struggled on both ends of the floor. In the final period, Fenerbahce Ulker simply held on to coast to victory. Gaziantep could not mount a run to cut into the lead like they did in the second frame.

Cory Higgins did his best to carry Royal Hali on his shoulders and even ended the night with a game-high 20 points. Unfortunately, he had little support from his teammates. Oliver Stevic was the only other Royal Hali player in double figures with 10 points.

Nemanja Bjelica put together another solid game with a quiet double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 boards. Jan Vesely led all Fenerbahce Ulker scorers with 16 points.