
Ulker Fenerbahce won a thriller, 62-63, over Lietuvos Rytas in their second game of the Torneo Citta di Roma in Group A. With the win, the Turk side, improves to 2-0 in the standings, after beating Benetton Bwin in their earlier matchup. Rytas, who won previously against Lottomatica Roma, stand at 1-1. Herem Kotic paced the winners with 17 points, while Nuri Gul Guney scored 16, Candan Berkay 13 plus 10 boards, and Erbil Eroglu 10 to go with 2 blocks. Rytas surrendered in the final minute despite strong efforts by Tomas Lekunas, who totaled 13 points, and Mantas Mockevicius, who scored 11. Rytas lost the first quarter, as Fenerbahce scored 12 unanswered points behind Kerem Hotic’s two triples to finish the period ahead, 12-19. But the Lithuanian squad was able to regroup after the break and mount a run of their own in a defensive minded quarter, as they won the period, 10-3 and entered halftime with a 22-22 tie. The third quarter was a higher scoring affair, with Fenerbahce edging out Rytas, 26-23, thanks to 11 Guney points in 10 minutes, including 2 triples. As the fourth kept matters tight, it seemed like the game would slip away from the Turk side. Mindaugas Kacinas put Rytas in front, 62-57, with a layup with over a minute to play, but consecutive layups by Eroglu and Berkay kept Fenerbahce within a point and a few ticks left. Tomas Lekunas then missed a three point attempt and Hotic did the same for Fenerbahce, who kept Rytas from scoring by negating a Paulius Semaska shot and got the win from the free throw line, as Berkay hit both his shots and Eroglu blocked another Semaska shot before Lekunas missed the deciding layup.
Monday, December 27, 2010
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