NEWS

29.03.2005

Beşiktaş: 75 – Galatasaray: 64

Beşiktaş Men’s Basketball Team posted a 75-64 victory over its rival Galatasaray the 22nd week game of the league by. Coach İhsan Bayülken said: ”Our driving force was our fans as always.”

The Beşiktaş-Galatasaray derby in the 22nd week game of the Turkish Basketball League took place in Akatlar Sports and Culture Complex.
Galatasaray was the more ambitious side in the beginning of the game. It reached a 6-point deficit (15-9) at the 5th minute by Umut and Keep’s baskets. Beşiktaş scored through Khalid El-Amin and Nedim, whereas Ratko Varda displayed very hesitant performance. Galatasaray was ahead by 20-16 at the end of the 1st quarter.
Beşiktaş, who started the second period with a very effective defensive effort, equalized the score by 20-20 in the 11th minute and then grabbed a 24-22 lead in the 14th minute. Black and White Team, which dominated the paint via the Andrew Ellis and Ratko Varda partnership, led the 19th minute by 36-30 and later the period by 38-34.
First 6 minutes of the second quarter passed with mutual baskets followed by Varda reaching 4 fouls, which cost Black and Whites its inside effectiveness. However, Beşiktaş still managed to lead the 3rd period by 56-52 despite Keep of Galatasaray’s efforts to cut down the deficit by 1 (53-52).
Beşiktaş, who started the last period by Haluk Yıldırım and Tolga Tekinalp’s baskets, led the 33rd minute by 62-55 and pushed the lead out to 6 points with 3 minutes left in the game. The home team, playing more effectively, pushed the lead event further out to 11 points (71-60) with 1:30 left; via steals turned into fast-break points. Eventually, Black and Whites won the game by 75-64 pushing its rival one step closer to the relegation zone.
21 points from El-Amin
The highest scoring player in the game was Khalid El-Amin followed by Bekir Yarangüme 11, Ratko Varda10, Bret Maher 8, Haluk Yıldırım 7, and Andrew Ellis, Nedim Yücel, Tolga Tekinalp 6 points each.
Bayülken: “Our driving force was our fans.”
Coach İhsan Bayülken stated the following at the after-game press conference: “It wasn’t easy to win such an important game after the Fenerbahçe game played during the week; however our players managed to do so. Our fans being our driving force as always were the reason behind this victory. They never lost their confidence in us. We would like to follow the path to happy end with them.”
Tekinalp: “We demonstrated that we are a good team.”
Team captain Tolga Tekinalp stated that they demonstrated being a good team with this victory and said: “This game was very important for us since it was a crucial that we demonstrate being a good team after the Fenerbahçe game. We fought hard during the game. We made minimal mistakes. However these mistakes are within the nature of the basketball game. We are sure of great accomplishments in the play-offs if we keep up our level of competitiveness high with the help of our supporters.”
Yıldırım: “We are happy that we won.”
Haluk Yıldırım, who thanked the fans, stated: “We would like to thank our fans for coming and supporting us in this venue. It was really a hard-fought game. Galatasaray was also trying not to relegate. We are really happy that we won. We would try to finish league as successful as possible.

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