Fenerbahce overcomes Barking for first victory

U18 Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul grabbed its first victory of the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Kaunas as it knocked off U18 Barking Abbey London 99-84 in Group B. David Mutaf collected 27 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists in helping Fenerbahce come back from a 12-point third quarter deficit. Yigit Onan had 26 points and Berkay Yilmaz scored 16 points to go with 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals for Fenerbahce, which finished group play at 1-2. That was the same record as Barking despite Cameron Hildreth totalling 35 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, 1 block and 8 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 42. Veron Eze chipped in 13 points in the loss.

Mutaf started hot with two three-pointers for an 8-5 lead. Onan also connected from the outside to even the game 15-15 before Barking scored the next seven points for a 15-22 advantage and the English side led 20-23 after 10 minutes. Yilmaz drained a long ball to start the second quarter and Fenerbahce pulled ahead 27-23. Yusuf Bayrak and Onan also hit from downtown to keep Fenerbahce up 34-33. Hildreth and Eze combined for nine points in a 2-11 run for a 36-44 Barking lead. Mert Eksioglu and Mutaf both knocked down triples to try to keep the Turkish side close but it was 44-54 at the break. Hildreth’s basket early in the second half extended the cushion to 46-58 and it was still 12 points with 5 minutes left in the third quarter when Onan and Yilmaz both hit two treys in a 21-4 finish to the third quarter for a 70-63 lead. Fenerbahce picked up the first four points of the final frame to make it 74-63. Emmanuel Kanwei was able to get the margin down to nine points but Mutaf hit another three-ball and Barking could not come up with defensive stops as Onan added two more baskets to never let the lead dip into single digits.