Our Beşiktaş Cola Turka Basketball Team retains top spot by rolling to a comfortable 108-89 victory over Banvit at Akatlar Arena in the 24th week of the Beko Basketball League.

Teams came out swinging in the in the early going, and despite a brief Banvit surge, our Black and Whites managed to gain control with a string of 3-pointers by Drobjnak. After the visitors came up empty on their 4 straight scoring attempts, Beşiktaş Cola Turka pulled ahead 10-4 at the 4th minute mark. Then the Black and Whites started committing a number of lazy fouls and mistakes as Banvit crept within 2 on back-to-back lay-ups by Donell Harvey coming deep under the rim. But the visitors were unable to contain the duo Apodaca and Dronbjnak and trailed by 7 late in the quarter. With the addition of Shumpert, Beşiktaş Cola Turka continued to pour it on in the dying seconds and took a 27-18 cushion into the second quarter.
Sparked by Mehmet Yağmur’s jumper, the Black and Whites exploded for an 8-0 run early in the second quarter and extended their lead to 17-points. Then Sinan Güler and Cevher Özer came off the bench to help them tighten up on defense and prevent visitors from getting an open look at the basket. Riding Drobjnak’s hot hand, they outscored Banvit 23-6 and built a 26-point advantage at 50-24 with 3 minutes remaining in the half. They maintained their momentum rest of the way and went into the locker room holding a comfortable 61-32 lead at the break.
Trailing by 29 points, Banvit pushed hard in the third to claw its way back into the game. They started playing a more aggressive defense and managed to pull within 23 points midway through the third quarter. Then they went on a 4-0 run late in the quarter to trim the deficit even further. But our Black and Whites responded with a pair of lay-ups by Kaya Peker and Sinan Güler in the closing seconds to hold an 80-64 advantage heading into the final quarter of play.
Beşiktaş Cola Turka opened the fourth with a pair of technical foul shots and avoided the turnovers it committed in the previous quarter. Completely dominating their opponents, the Black and Whites were up 91-71 at the halfway mark and would never relinquish the lead rest of the way. During the remainder of the game, just to satisfy their fans wishes, they gave up playing defense all together and went in search of a triple digit score instead. Entering the final minute with a 99-85 cushion, they hit their 100th point on Cevher Özer’s free throw en route to a lopsided 108-89 victory that turned out to be one of their easiest wins of the season.
Kaya Peker led the Black and Whites with 26 points followed by Drobjnak who poured in 19. Other contributers included Shumpert (15), Apodaca (14), Dalmau (10), Sinan Güler (10), Cevher Özer (7), Erkan Veyseloğlu (3), Mehmet Yağmur (2) and Onur Aydın (2).
Since Beşiktaş Cola Turka also won the previous away match, it would now hold a 1-0 advantage over Banvit in a possible playoff match-up.