Hayes helps Bursaspor hand Cedevita its first loss

Kevarrius Hayes and Allerik Freeman shined brightly for Frutti Extra Bursaspor on Wednesday in a 93-84 victory over Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana at Tofas Spor Salonu. Freeman scored 22 points and Hayes recorded 21 points and 11 rebounds as Bursaspor won its second straight game to improve to 2-1. The result left Cedevita with the same record as it suffered its first loss. Bursaspor outscored Cedevita 50-34 in the middle two quarters to take control of the game. David Dudzinski added 13 points and Anthony Brown had 10 in his debut for Bursaspor. Jaka Blazic paced Cedevita with 20 points, Marcus Keene and Jacob Pullen scored 16 apiece and Zach Auguste contributed 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Cedevita controlled the opening tip and Auguste drove for a layup to open the scoring before Freeman for the hosts going with a triple. The team traded points – and leads – in the early going. Hayes was a force inside for Bursaspor and Keene, who was fouled shooting a three and made the resulting 3 free throws, and Auguste with a putback gave the visitors a 12-13 edge midway through the first quarter. Dudzinski’s triple evened things at 15-15. Egemen Guven's put-back slam thriller the local supporters and an alley-oop by Dudzinski nudged Bursaspor in front only to see Pullen drill a three at the other end to make it 19-21. Bursaspor called timeout, but Luka Rupnik added to the Cedevita lead with a triple and it was 21-26 after 10 minutes.

Metin Turen drilled a three and Freeman sank free throws as Bursaspor tied it in the first minutes of the second quarter. Guven completed the comeback with a free throw to make it 27-26. Blazic hit a three and Auguste threw down an alley-oop slam to give Cedevita the lead, 29-34. Hayes scored twice at the other end, through Auguste dunked again to make it 33-38 midway through the quarter. Brown stepped up with a pair of threes in an 8-0 run that put the hosts on top. Hayes made free throws on each of the next three possessions to extend the margin before Dudzinski completed a fast break with a layup that made it 47-40. Rupnik ended a 14-2 run with free throws and Blazic also sank foul shots to trim the gap to 47-44 at the half.

Keene buried a pair of threes in the first 2 minutes of the second half as Cedevita regained the lead, but Dudzinski and Freeman responded from downtown for a 55-50 advantage. A jumper by Guven stretched the lead to 7 before Blazic answered with a three. Hayes remained a force inside with a basket-plus-foul, Freeman made a foul-line jumper and Brown added a turn-around jumper to give Bursaspor the game's first double-digit lead, 66-56. Ziga Dimec stopped the bleeding for Cedevita and Blazic made a pair of free throws, however, Hayes again converted a three-point play and Freeman beat the third-quarter buzzer with a layup to lead 71-60.

Turen kept the Bursaspor momentum going with a three to open the fourth quarter. Brown made it 76-60 with a jumper. Pullen tried to fight back for Cedevita with a three-point play and Blazic buried an open three. Pullen added free throws and a three-pointer to get the deficit to 80-71 with 5 minutes remaining. Hayes controlled the offensive glass and netted more free throws to keep Cedevita at bay. After Melvin Ejim and Blazic each scored for Cedevita, Dudzinski’s third three-pointer of the night restored a 10-point lead for Bursaspor. The visitors never showed signs of quitting, but the Bursaspor attack kept humming along and held on for the victory.

Hayes shines bright with his first double-double

In just his third EuroCup game in his third professional season, Kevarrius Hayes delivered a dominant performance to lead Frutti Extra Bursaspor to a tough win over Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana. The center amassed 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting – and 9-of-12 from the foul line – plus 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks for a career-best PIR of 33. To put it into perspective, Hayes totaled just 13 points and 8 rebounds without any blocks in his first two EuroCup appearances. He had 8 points and 2 rebounds in the second quarter as Bursaspor and 8 points and 3 boards in the third quarter as his team pulled away for good.

Blazic has another big game against Bursaspor

Is there any team Jaka Blazic likes facing more than Frutti Extra Bursaspor? The Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana guard set his career-high in scoring with 33 against Bursaspor last season. He netted 25 in their other meeting, so Wednesday’s 20-point effort pales in competition. He shot well, making 2 of 3 two-pointers, 3 of 6 threes and 7 of 8 free throws, in addition to 2 rebounds and 3 assists for a season-high PIR of 22. The Slovenian sniper is now averaging 26.0 points per game in the EuroCup against Bursaspor. He has scored 12.4 points in 48 games against the rest of the EuroCup.

By the numbers: Bursaspor makes extra possessions count

Frutti Extra Bursaspor and Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana had similar shooting numbers in Wednesday's game. The hosts made 51.2% of their twos and 45.5% of their threes compared to 53.3% and 39.1%, respectively, by Cedevita. However, while the visitors attempted 1 more three-pointer, Bursaspor attempted 13 more two-pointers, which accounted for much of the scoring difference. How did the hosts get so many extra shots? Some can be attributed to the fact that Cedevita shot 7 more free throws, but the rest came from the fact that Bursaspor had 3 more offensive rebounds (11-8) and 3 fewer turnovers (10-13). Those extra possessions added up and Bursaspor made sure they counted.