Visiting Galatasary Cafe Crown downed the Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball Team, 80-75, at BJK Cola Turka Arena in the 8th week of Beko Basketball League.

Beşiktaş started a lineup consisting of Nicevic, Kaya Peker, Dalmau, Apodaca and Erkan Veyseloğlu but had trouble finding the bucket early on despite a superior rebounding at both ends. During the opening minutes, teams kept trading baskets with neither side gaining upper hand. But backed by Hüseyin Beşok’s baskets under the hoop, our traditional rival Galatasaray began to pull ahead midway through the opening quarter with a string of 3-pointers. Unable to get its usual offensive rhythm going, Beşiktaş Cola Turka could not answer Brown’s threes and trailed by 7 late in the quarter. Meanwhile Galatasaray’s solid defense prevented Black and Whites from getting inside and forced Beşiktaş Cola to take some tough outside shots. But obviously having an off-day, the poor- shooting Black and Whites failed to take advantage of their chances and fell behind, 20-15, at the end of first quarter.
Galatasaray Cafe Crown managed to carry its momentum into the second and continued to play aggressive defense while knocking down baskets in and outside the painted area during most of the quarter. After converting a series of Beşiktaş’s turnovers into baskets, the yellow and red team also hit some critical free throws and extended its lead to 11 points at 28-17 with 5 minutes to play in the half.  From that minute onwards Beşiktaş Cola Turka finally began to chip away at the visitors’ lead with Shumpert’s consecutive 3-pointers and cut the deficit down to 4 points with 2 minutes remaining. But hot-shooting Galatasaray Cafe Crown came back to hit three back-to back 3-pointers and took a 42- 34 lead going into its locker at the half.
Beşiktaş Cola Turka started the second half with a lineup that included some key defensive players who can make jumpers at the same time and quickly rallied to trim the 8-point half-time with consecutive baskets. After slicing Galatasaray’s lead to 2 points, Erkan Veysel drained a along-range 3-pointer to put Black and Whites ahead, 45-44, for the first time in the game with 6 minutes remaining in the quarter. From that moment on the game developed into a seesaw affair with the lead changing hands on numerous occasions. But a late surge by Brown, who sank back-to-back threes from all over the floor, turned the game in favor of the visitors once again. The yellow and red team held a 59-55 edge after three quarters of play.
During the opening minutes of the final quarter, visiting Galatasaray Cafe Crown tried to protect its advantage by putting up an aggressive defense, while Black and Whites relied on their fast break play to remain within a shot or two. Although the visiting team managed to increase its lead midway through the quarter, our Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball Team charged back with a string of baskets scored inside the painted area and pulled within 64-63 at the 34th minute mark of the game. But just like in previous quarters, Galatasaray turned to its 3-point shots and started widening the gap one more time.
Nevertheless, Erkan Veyseloğlu took the center stage again and dug deep to keep Black and Whites in the game. His critical free throws and timely 3-pointer brought Beşiktaş Cola Turka to within 3 at 73-70 late in the game. But the visiting yellow and reds put together a late run of their own with fast break points and high-percentage threes to pull out an 80-75 victory in the end.