Fenerbahçe Beko defeated Greek team Olympiacos 84-72 on the road in the 5th game of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Play-Off series, losing the series 3-2 and losing its chance for the Final Four. The top scorer of the match was Marko Guduric, who scored 26 points in Fenerbahçe Beko. In the home team, Kostas Sloukas contributed greatly to the victory with 22 points.
The match played in the Peace and Friendship Hall started with the starting 5 of the host team, Thomas Walkup, Isaiah Canaan, Kostas Papanikolaou, Sasha Vezenkov and Moustapha Fall. Fenerbahce’s top 5 consisted of Nick Calathes, Tyler Dorsey, Dyshawn Pierre, Nigel Hayes-Davis and Tonye Jekiri. Fenerbahce responded to Olympiacos, who started the match with Papanikolaou’s effective play, with Beko Jekiri’s points: 7-4. Fenerbahce, which activated the short players in the later part of the period, equalized the score with 3.11 remaining to the end of the period with Dorsey and Guduric’s three-pointers: 13-13. With 0.3 seconds left in the period, Papanikolaou’s 2-pointer and a free throw were scored, leading the Greek team 20-15 in the first period.
The yellow-dark blue team started the second period with Guduric’s three-pointer. In the later part of the period, the home team scored points from the free throws, while the yellow-dark blue team kept the difference with Guduric’s points. The yellow-dark blue team leveled the score once again with Hayes-Davis’s free throw with 5.28 remaining to the end of the period: 29-29. After this minute, the home team regained control with Sloukas’ points, increasing the lead to 6 with 2.20 remaining to give their opponent a time-out: 37-31. Fenerbahce, who could not score for about 4 minutes, could not stop his opponent on offense, and the gap increased to double digits: 42-31. Maintaining the difference in the remaining section, Olympiacos entered the locker room leading 44-33.
In the third period, which started with balance, the home team scored points with Vezenkov, while the yellow-dark blue team scored points with Motley. In the last 5 minutes of the period, the home team was ahead 55-45. Fenerbahce, which reduced the lead to single digits in the following minutes, could not prevent the lead to double digits once again, with Sloukas scoring 5 points in a row: 62-49. Maintaining the difference in the remaining section, the home team went ahead 65-52 in the last period.
In the last period, both teams had difficulties in scoring. After the first 5 minutes were tied 6-6, the home team led the last 5 minutes by 13 points: 71-58. Maintaining the difference in the remaining section, the home team won the park 84-72 and advanced to the Final Four.
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