Darussafaka storms behind Wanamaker into playoffs!

Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul is going to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs for the first time after winning 78-62 against visiting Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade on Friday for the last open berth! Both teams finished with 16-14 records, but Darussafaka took eighth place thanks to beating Zvezda in both of their games. Darussafaka will face first-place Real Madrid in a best-of-five playoff series starting in less than two weeks. A 10-0 start to the game signalled Darussafaka's resolve and the hosts led by double-digits much of the night. However, a 5-17 third-quarter blast by Zvezda cut the difference to 52-49 before Darussafaka relocated its offense and pulled away in the fourth quarter to victory. Brad Wanamaker again led Darussafaka with 22 points to go with 5 assists and 10 fouls drawn. Scottie Wilbekin had 16 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. Ante Zizic had 11 points and 8 rebounds while Will Clyburn collected 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Zvezda, which suffered greatly from 1-for-16 three-point shooting, got 14 points from Ognjen Kuzmic, 12 from Charles Jenkins and 10 from Marko Simonovic.

Wanamaker drew a foul, drained a jumper and knocked down 2 free throws to open the scoring. Zizic scored next for Darussafaka, then Wilbekin's steal set up Clyburn for a high-flying dunk. After a Zvezda timeout, Clyburn kept it going with a banked-in hook shot before Kuzmic finally got the visitors on the board with a dunk at 10-2. Nemanja Dangubic followed with a fastbreak layup plus free throw. Clyburn scored in close before Wilbekin rained a deep triple, the game's first, at 15-5. Lazic answered with a strong drive but Zizic did the same, finishing with a dunk. Dangubic hit a layup that Dairis Bertans matched before Kuzmic scored to make it 19-11. Wanamaker came back with a triple for a 22-11 lead, but it was answered by a Jenkins-to-Marko Guduric backdoor layup. Adrien Moerman was left open for a triple that closed the first quarter at 25-14 for Darussafaka. Simonovic opened the second quarter with a layup off an offensive rebound. Clyburn's high-arcing jumper and strong drive led the way for Wanamaker's transition three-pointer. Zizic got Darussafaka its highest lead yet, 34-18 as Zvezda's shooting remained cold. Simonovic converted a three-point play before Wilbekin fed Wanamaker for a strong back-door slam. Simonovic made 3 of 4 free throws, Jenkins got his first points on a jumper and Dangubic got to the line for 2 more foul shots as Zvezda drew within 36-28. Wilbekin finished his strong half with with back-to-back threes, however, and Darussafaka pulled into halftime with a 43-32 lead. Wilbekin resumed scoring right after the break and Moerman joined him with a baseline spin move as the lead reached 47-32. Jenkins and Luka Mitrovic re-established Zvezda's offense with a jumper and put-back, respectively. Then Kuzmic's reverse lowered the difference to single digits, 47-38. Wilbekin came flying off a screen to hit a huge triple, but finally Zvezda got its first shot from downtown, off the hand of Nate Wolters. When Jenkins made a long two-pointer next, and the difference was down to 50-43. Wanamaker's free throws were answered with a put-back dunk by Kuzmic and another long jumper from Jenkins. Now it was Darussafaka who couldn't buy a basket as Kuzmic scored to close a 5-17 run by the visitors with the lead suddenly down to 3 points, 52-49. Bertans came to Darussafaka's rescue with a late layup and free throw as the hosts held a 55-49 after 30 minutes. Dangubic opened the fourth quarter with a jumper, but James Anderson stepped up with a big triple for Darussafaka and Zizic slammed back a rebound at 60-51. Jenkins came out of a timeout and hit a layup before Clyburn found Birkan Batuk for a triple and another double-digit lead, 63-53. Jenkins scored again but Wanamaker flashed for a layup to make it 66-55. Kuzmic hit 2 free throws before Zizic turned a tipped pass into a layup and Wanamaker knifed through a tired Zvezda defense to up the difference to 70-57 with less than 4 minutes left. After feeding Anderson for a corner triple, Wanamaker made another huge layup with free throw at the one-minute mark to seal forever Darussafaka's first qualification for the playoffs!