The visiting Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball Team drooped an 88 -73 decision to Israeli Hapoel Jaruselam in the first leg of ULEP Cup Round 2.  

The Israeli team got off to a fast start and the Black and Whites managed to score their first basket only two minutes into the game with Kaya Peker. They committed too many turnovers in the early going but, the home side could not take advantage of them. Beşiktaş Cola Turka clung to a narrow 7-6 lead midway through the quarter and played solid defense which did not allow its host to pull ahead. The teams traded baskets until the end and were locked in a 13-13 going into the second quarter.
The Black and Whites came on strong in the second and took control in the early going but had to give it back due to poor shot selections and costly turnovers. Spurred by their opponent’s sloppy play, the Israeli representatives put together a 23-4 run within a 5-minute span to surge ahead 42-26 with 2 minutes remaining in the quarter. Beşiktaş Cola Turka tightened up its defense in the waning minutes but kept missing shot after shot and trailed 43-29 at the half.
Since the turnovers and poor shooting continued to plague Black and Whites in the third quarter, Hapoel Jerusalem opened up a 20 point gap to stretch the lead to 51-31 at the halfway mark. Despite a late charge by Shumpert, the hot-shooting Hapoel withstood all Beşiktaş Cola Turka’s comeback attempts, as it led 66-50 after three quarters of play.  
After Sinan Güler made his free throws to open the fourth quarter, the Black and Whites finally put their act together and began to chip away at the deficit with consecutive buckets by Apodaca (67-56). Then, Shumpert’s 3-pointer brought them within 10 points, 69-59, 2 minutes into the final quarter. But the host team still held onto a 76-62 advantage midway through the quarter. From that moment onwards, Beşiktaş Cola Turka had trouble finding a way to stop Arnold’s hot-hand and created too many turnovers to fall behind by as many as 22 points entering the final 3 minutes. Rather then quit, the Black and Whites put together a one last rally to trim the deficit, but in the end Hapoel Jerusalem prevailed over Beşiktaş Cola Turka 88-73.
With this score our team suffered it first loss in ULEB CUP. Both teams will face each other again at BJK Cola Turka Arena on February 26th.