Fenerbahce whips Pinar Karsiyaka by 58 points

Fenerbahce pounded Pinar Karsiyaka in their Turkish League showdown on Sunday, winning 117-59.

Pinar Karsiyaka pulled a stunt to protest a recent ruling by the Turkish Basketball Federation.

The TBF rejected a request to have the Fenerbache match postponed because it was just two days before Pinar Karsiyaka’s Basketball Champions League game against Brindisi.

So what did Pinar Karsiyaka do in protest? The club fielded a squad of mostly youth players, didn’t use its foreign players. What’s more, coach Ufuk Sarica was not on the bench.

Fenerbahce’s leading scorers

In the lopsided affair, Berkay Candan paced Fenerbahce with 25 points and Tarik Biberovic poured in 23 points along with 13 rebounds and eight assists. Kenan Sipahi, one of five Fenerbahce players to score in double figures, chipped in with 11 points and seven assists.

Arca Tuluoglu finished with 22 points and and Mahir Agva added 21 points for Pinar Karsiyaka (20-7). Ahmet Daveriogulu grabbed 17 rebounds.

A rout from start to finish

Without the majority of its top-level players, Pinar Karsiyaka fell behind 29-10 by the end of the first quarter.

Fenerbahce, which secured a spot in the EuroLeague playoffs earlier in the week, led 63-29 at halftime and 88-49 after three quarters.

Coach Igor Kokoskov’s team outrebounded its overmatched opponent 53-32.

In related news, Fenerbache fell 83-72 to FC Barcelona in a EuroLeague clash on Friday, an experience not like the weekend rout.

After falling to FC Barcelona, Kokoskov said: “It’s always a bitter taste in your mouth when you lose. That’s how we feel after this game. We knew that we were playing against the team that is probably playing the best basketball in the EuroLeague this year. They were favorites coming here. I think we were fighting, I think we were competing. But we needed more. We need more to win these kind of games. It’s a good test for us. Hopefully we’re going to play this team again.”