2008-09Regular SeasonRound 3
November 06, 2008 CET: 20:30
Local time: 20:30 PALAU OLIMPIC DE BADALONA

Fenerbahce Ulker edged DKV Joventut 67-70

Fenerbahce Ulker pulled off a major accomplishment in Group C by rallying from 5 points down with 3 minutes left to steal a 67-70 road win over DKV Joventut in Badalona, Spain on Thursday. The victory gave Fenerbahce a piece of second place in Group C with a 2-1 record while dropping Joventut to 1-2. A tip-in by Ogur Savas with 12 seconds left proved the game-winner after a back-and-forth battle that assured a close finish. Fenerbahce used its size advantage to build a 17-26 advantage early in the second quarter but Joventut answered with a 20-2 run that overlapped halftime and gave it control of the scoreboard, but only briefly. Fenerbahce fought back to take small leads for brief moments all the way into the last 5 minutes of the game. Joventut led 61-56 on technical free throws with just under 3 minutes left, but failed to use the advantage as Devin Smith hit a key triple before the Savas tip-in and free throws by Emir Preldzic sealed a win that shocked the local crowd. Preldzic led the winners with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals. Smith dropped 12 points and Mirsad Turkcan 11 to go with 9 rebounds for the winners. Simas Jasaits paced Joventut with 15 points, while Demond Mallet added 13 and Bracey Wright 10. Fenerbahce's 27-39 advantage in rebounds proved key, too. Joventut sorely missed injured big man Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who went down with a shoulder injury and didn't play, joining guard Ricky Rubio on the injured list.

Both teams found trouble getting started until Wright's steal sent Jagla for a dunk and Preldzic's offensive rebound resulted in Turkcan making it 2-2 on a nice cut. Preldzic popped a triple off a screen forFenerbahce's first lead and Vidmar added to it with a tip-in. When Preldzic measured another from deep, the visitors had a 2-10 advantage. Wright drove for an acrobatic layup, but Turkcan backed in and matched it. After several misses, Jasaitis downed Joventut's first three-pointer, but Fenerbahce, contesting every rebound, got another tip-in from Turkcan at 9-14. When Joventut lost another defensive rebound, coach Sito Alonso had seen enough and changed his entire starting five. Pau Ribas immediately drove for a runner and Christian Eyenga made a huge block on Devin Smith. Ferrran Laviña got to the line and made both to cut the difference to 13-14. Off the Fenerbahce bench, Damir Kaan Mrsic buried a triple and two free throws, however, and Fenerbahce kept dominating the boards to a 13-19 lead after 10 minutes.

Henk Norel took a pick-and-roll feed from Mallet and Luka Bogdanovic rolled for a hook shot that charged up the Joventut crowd. But soon enough, Smith restarted Fenerbahce with a big triple and Oguz Savas loomed over everyone for a pair of drop-ins that made it 17-26 and forced a Joventut timeout. Jasaitis returned with a much-needed corner triple before Wright went coast-to-coast to clsoe the gap again to 22-26. Next, Mallet found Jasaitis for another blast from teh same corner, but Savas interrupted the hosts' run with a deft hook shot for Fenerbahce. But not for long, Ribas measured a big triple that landed for a 28-28 tie, and now it was Fenerbahce head coach Bogdan Tanjevic's turn to talk with his team. While Fenerbahce kept missing, however, Mallet hit a face-up triple and stole to feed Laviña for a layup that made it 33-28. And when Eduardo Hernadez-Sonseca dropped a foul-line jumper, Joventut had an 18-2 run and a 35-28 halftime lead that had seemed improbable just 7 minutes earlier.

A quiet minute after halftime ended with Hernnandez-Sonseca extending Joventut's run, before Green connected from downtown for Fenerbahce. Mallet fed Wright for a reverse layup that Vidmar matched with a jump hook and bettered with another as Fenerbahce closed within 39-35. Jagla hooked in an offensive rebound for Joventut, but Preldzic looped a runner in response. Green and Wright traded baskets in the lane for a 43-49 scoreboard that stalled their through a series of misses. Mrsic lifted Fenerbahce's hopes with a corner triple, but Jagla dashed them just as quickly from downtown to end the quarter with Joventut clincing to a 46-42 lead.

Teenage big man Enes Kanter got loose inside, made the shot and the free throw that came with it to move Fenerbahce forward at the start of the final quarter. Turkcan completed his team's surge with a game-tying trile at 48-48. Again, however, Joventut answered with the same coin, a Bogdanvoic strike from the arc. Smith got Fenerbahce within 51-50 on a layup, but missed the next. After a TV timeout, Turkcan drop-stepped for a nice layup to give Fenerbahce the lead again. Joventut took a timeout, right after which Mallet and Smith hit dueling triples, pointing the way to a close finish with under 5 minutes left and a 54-55 score. A pair of free throws by Wright put Joventut back in front, then Jasaitis came out of nowhere for a tip-in, but Preldzic got to the line to make it 58-56. When Mallet pulled up for a triple on the break, however, he was fouled and buried all 3 free throws to give Joventut breathing room at 61-56 with 3 minutes left. Smith got to the line for 2 free throws, but off the ball, Turkcan was whistled for a technical foul that let Mallet make 2 of his own. Preldzic stole, was fouled and made both foul shots then got fouled on a defensive rebound and made another pair for a 63-61 score. Jasaitis came off the bench and drove for a basket, but, on the run and with a defender all over him, Smith buried a huge triple to make it 65-64. When Joventut turned the ball over again, Green fed Savas alone underneath as Fenerbache took over the lead again, 65-66, with 35 seconds left. A foul by Preldzic put Jasaitis on the line, and he made both to retake the lead at 67-66 with 29.6 seconds to go. With 12 left, Savas tipped in a miss by Smith and at the other end, Jasaitis was stripped by Green, leading to an intentional foul. Preldzic made both of them and Fenerbahce walked away with a huge road win in Group C.

Thursday, November 6, 2008
Euroleague.net
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Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; LOPES, LUIS
Attendance: 5876
By Quarter1234
DKV Joventut13221121
Fenerbahce Ulker1991428
End of Quarter1234
DKV Joventut13354667
Fenerbahce Ulker19284270
DKV Joventut
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
00 MALLET, DEMOND 30:10 13 1/3 2/6 5/5   4 4 6 2 3       2 18
4 RIBAS, PAU 24:54 5 1/3 1/5     3 3 2 1 2     2   1
6 WRIGHT, BRACEY 24:22 10 4/4 0/6 2/2 1 1 2 2 1 2       3 10
10 BOGDANOVIC, LUKA 17:47 7 2/2 1/4     1 1   1 1     3   2
12 TOMAS, JOAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 JASAITIS, SIMAS 22:48 15 2/3 3/5 2/2 2   2 1 1 2     1 3 16
14 JAGLA, JAN 11:56 7 2/2 1/2   2   2 1   1     1   7
15 EYENGA, CHRISTIAN 5:29                     1   1    
16 HERNANDEZ-SONSECA, EDU 26:43 4 2/6       3 3       3   1 3 8
17 NOREL, HENK 12:42 2 1/3     1 1 2   1 1     2 1 1
18 LAVINA, FERRAN 20:02 4 1/2 0/3 2/2 1 4 5     1   1 4 2 1
19 TOMAS, PERE 3:07   0/1     1   1     1   1     -2
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 67 16/29 8/31 11/11 8 19 27 12 7 14 4 2 15 14 64
        55.2% 25.8% 100%
Head coach: ALONSO, SITO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Fenerbahce Ulker
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 GREEN, MARQUES 37:06 5 1/2 1/5     2 2 6 1 3     3 1 4
6 TURKCAN, MIRSAD 24:49 11 4/9 1/2   2 7 9     4     3   7
8 BASAK, RASIM 11:20     0/2     2 2           1   -1
10 GIRICEK, GORDAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 MRSIC, DAMIR 23:42 8   2/4 2/2   1 1 1 1       1 1 9
14 VIDMAR, GASPER 11:21 6 3/6     1 2 3   1 1   1 2 1 4
15 DEMIREL, HAKAN 1:18                   1       1  
18 KANTER, ENES 15:39 3 1/2   1/1   3 3     1   1   1 4
21 SAVAS, OGUZ 21:56 8 4/5       2 2 1   2 2 1 1 2 10
32 SMITH, DEVIN 22:23 12 1/4 3/7 1/2 2 2 4 2   2   1 3 1 5
55 PRELDZIC, EMIR 30:26 17 2/4 2/5 7/8 4 4 8 1 3 4     1 7 25
Team           2 3 5               5
Totals 200:00 70 16/32 9/25 11/13 11 28 39 11 6 18 2 4 15 15 72
        50% 36% 84.6%
Head coach: TANJEVIC, BOGDAN

Head Coaches

ALONSO, SITO
DKV Joventut
"First, I regret how this game finished. I think that apart from the first three or four minutes of the last quarter, we played with the defensive intensity we needed to overcome our problems with a team that is so strong physically as Fenerbahce. On offense, we weren't very accurate and it cost us a lot of effort to try to find easy shots going against such a very big frontcourt as theirs. Even so, we found ourselves with a five-point lead in the closing minutes. Then I don't know if we lacked good decisions or we were tired, but we didn't get the options we needed in the last couple of minutes. And we had bad luck when Jasaitis lost his balance and had the ball taken away when he was in a good position under the basket. I know that Coach Tanjevic was mad, but I want to say that in the short time I have been coach, I have learned that the first thing you do after a game is extend your hand to the opposing coach, win or lose. But they were celebrating as I waited and I shook the hand of the assistant coach, because he came over to me. After waiting some more seconds, I walked off the court thinking that I would approach him later to offer my congratulations."
TANJEVIC, BOGDAN
Fenerbahce Ulker
"The game has been typical of the Euroleague at this level in the way it was so close and hard-fought. It was not a brilliant game, but very well fought by both teams, even if there were a lot of errors. But with plenty of heart on the part of both teeams. If Joventut had won, I would have congratulated them, too. I want to apologize for my behavior at the end of the game. My personal ethic from years ago is that I always remember that, win or lose, you put on the same face, for the dignity of the work we are doing. I always remember that great players have to show the same respect when they win for the players who lose, so as not to make it worse on them. When I lose a game, I congratulate the other coach to make sure his joy is not limited, even enhanced. And later I have a pillow to lay my head on and consider why we lost. I would always want to show that, win or lose, I treat coaches the same no matter what happens. After 38 years coaching and a lot of wins a losses, I always leave the court with the same smile. I hope that this young coach of Joventut learns from this experience."

Players

HERNANDEZ-SONSECA, EDU
DKV Joventut
"Now, I am only thinking of returning Fenerbahce the favor by winning at their court when we meet again. We have to turn the page quickly and analyze tomorrow the errors to explain why we lost when we had the chance to win against a good team. We committed some unpardonable errors which cost us the game, for example letting them dominate on offensive rebounds all along. They played with more intensity at the end, when we weren't at the same level we had been the whole game."
TURKCAN, MIRSAD
Fenerbahce Ulker
"We played a tough game. We have a lot of injuries, first of all, but Joventut too has a couple of key ones with Ricky Rubio and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who are very athletic guys. We saw the opportunity to win an away game and we took it with a big shot by Devin Smith and a tip-in by Ogur Savas at the end. This is important for us in terms of having confidence going forward in the next weeks. It was very close the whole game and when it was head-to-head going into the final minute, we had a little more left in us to finish it. It's huge for our position in the group in a short 10-game season. Every win away is great and will give us momentum if we can keep winning at Abdi Ipecki to think about finishing near the top of the group."
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