Fenerbahce Advances to EuroLeague Final Four

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul is the second team to secure its berth to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four. They secured an 82-99 Game 4 win over B.C. Zalgiris Kaunas at Zalgirio Arena on Thursday night. They join Real Madrid in the semifinals. The defending champions completed a 3-0 sweep of Panathinaikos Athens earlier in the week.

From the get-go it was clear that Fenerbahce wanted to close out the series, despite the disadvantages inherent in playing on the road. They started off strong as planned, racing to a 10-27 lead in the first quarter, finishing up 16-30. The greens would storm back in the second quarter, cutting into the lead to single digits with Fenerbahce staying on top 41-49 at the halftime break.

After the break, Fenerbahce would stay in control and end the third quarter raising the lead back up to 11 with a score of 61-72. The fourth quarter saw both teams put out maximum effort, but in the end Fenerbahce were unrelenting in their defense and were able to hold on for the victory, punching their ticket to the next round of the EuroLeague playoffs.

Bobby Dixon was on fire in this game for Fenerbahce, shooting a blistering 9-of-10 from the field, which included a perfect 5-for-5 from 3-point range en route to his team-high 25 points. He was not alone in rising to the challenge as Konstantinos Sloukas came through with a double-double with 15 points and 10 assists, while Jan Vesely added 12 points and six assists of his own.

Zalgiris played hard but the bulk of their offense was shouldered by Brandon Davies and Nate Wolters, who scored 25 and 18 points, respectively; the only green shirts to provide double-digit scoring.

Zalgiris’ season is over in the EuroLeague and they now head home to defend their Lithuanian crown. For Fenerbahce, they now await the winner of the series between Anadolu Efes and FC Barcelona Lassa.