Beaubois leads three-point happy Baskonia past Fenerbahce

KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz protected its home court to keep its season alive, downing visiting Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul 88-83 in Game 3 of their Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoff series on Tuesday night. Fenerbahce leads the series 2-1 with Game 4 scheduled for Thursday night, again in Vitoria. Baskonia hit 9 first-half three-pointers and took the lead for good in the second quarter, but Fenerbahce hang around and was within 67-66 after three quarters. The hosts opened the fourth quarter with a 15-0 run and despite a late Fenerbahce rally, the hosts managed to preserve the lead until the final buzzer. Rodrigue Beaubois had 21 points and also dished 5 assists for Baskonia, which hit 14 three-pointers on 25 attempts. Vincent Poirier added 12 points and 7 rebounds, Johannes Voigtmann also scored 12, Marcelinho Huertas had 11 points and 7 assists and Tornike Shengelia collected 10 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists in the winning effort. Jan Vesely had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Fenerbahce, which had its 11-game playoff winning streak broken. Kostas Sloukas had 14 points and tied his career-high with 11 assists, Luigi Datome scored 13, and Marko Guduric netted 12 in defeat.

Ali Muhammed and Beaubois traded back-to-back threes as teams settled into an 8-8 tie in the early going. Beaubois hit his third triple and then dished to Huertas for a three-pointer. Huertas added a jumper to open an 18-10 advantage. But Fenerbahce answered with a 0-8 run, including back-to-back threes from Nicolo Melli and Marko Guduric, before a dunk from Ahmet Duverioglu gave Fenerbahce a 19-20 lead after one quarter. Melli scored in the lane on the opening possession of the second quarter, but that was a lone Fenerbahce field goal for almost five minutes. Luca Vildoza and Huertas each hit a three-pointer for the hosts and a Huertas-to-Poirier alley-oop made it 29-24. Kostas Sloukas ended the drought, and after Voigtmann’s three-pointer, Brad Wanamaker scored on a three-point play. Sloukas and Jan Vesely connected on a reverse alley-oop to cut the deficit to 34-33. Huertas hit his third three in as many attempts, Beaubois followed it with a basket-plus foul and Voigtmann knocked down Baskonia’s ninth triple to make it 43-35. After a Fenerbahce timeout, Beaubois drove for an acrobatic reverse layup and Jayson Granger fed Voigtmann in the lane for a monster dunk to open a 12-point margin before Luigi Datome hit a last-second three-pointer to make it 47-38 at halftime.

Vesely scored three times from close range, including trading dunks with Poirier, as Fenerbahce cut the margin to 49-44. Beaubois hit a three and Shengelia had a dunk that restored a double-digit lead, 58-48 midway through the third. Threes from Guduric and Datome made it 58-54, but Matt Janning connected on a triple and a jumper to keep the visitors at bay. However, Guduric hit 2 more threes and Vesely added a three-point play before a jumper from James Nunnally got Fenerbahce within 68-67 at the end of the third quarter. Janis Timma scored from close range and long range at the start of the fourth, forcing a Fenerbahce timeout. Timma made another three, Shengelia added a put-back and a dunk on a Huertas assist, before Janning’s triple made it 82-66. Fenerbahce was without a basket for almost five minutes, before Melli made a pair of free throws to snap a 15-0 run. However, Muhammed hit a jumper to get the visitors going, before threes from Datome and Sloukas helped cut the deficit to 84-78. That’s when Beaubois hit a tough long jumper and on the ensuing possession forced a turnover under Baskonia’s basket with 1:39 to go that helped the hosts hold on.