Thanks to a last-gasp three pointer, visiting Aliağa Petkim out a 76-73 win over at Beşiktaş Cola Turka at BJK Akatlar Cola Turka Arena in a hotly-contested Beko Men’s Basketball First Division game.

The game went back and forth through the first 5 minutes of the opening quarter with the lead changing hands several times. The Black and White rode the hot shooting of Muratcan and Barış to answer Wilmont’s lay-ups and held a 9-7 edge at the halfway mark. Then Fatih and Reese combined to score 9 points over the next three minutes to give the visitors a 16-11 lead. But Mehmet Yağmur capped a late Beşiktaş Cola Turka rally with a short jumper and put his team back on top, 18- 16, heading into second quarter.
Fatih and Reese continued to pour it on Beşiktaş early in the second and quickly restored Aliağa’s lead; however, the Black and White refused to let its visitors pull away and battled back to tie the score at 20-20 on Cevher Özer’s driving layup. Nonetheless, Aliağa tighten its defense and was up, 29-22, midway through the quarter. Then Reha steeped up and connected on a barrage of three-pointers to keep the margin intact; as the visitors headed into locker room holding a 44-38 advantage at the halftime break.
Beşiktaş Cola Turka began to make its presence felt at the outset of the second half and went on to dominate the boards in an attempt to trim the deficit. Using a string of unanswered points by Adem Ören, the Black and White chipped away at the Aliağa’s lead and pulled within 48-46 with 7: 15 left. And soon after that, the same Adem would convert a 3-point play and put Beşiktaş Cola Turka ahead, 52-50. However, as the quarter wore on Aliağa Petkim regrouped and reclaimed the lead on Reha Öz’s consecutive buckets. The Black and White put together a late spurt and narrowed the deficit to a single point; but Reese’s free-throw at the buzzer gave Izmir City representatives a slim 59-57 lead going into the final stanza.
The visitors attempted to pull away from their hosts early in the fourth, following Wilmont’s back-to-back baskets, only to see Haluk Yıldırım nail a couple of jumpers of his own and keep his team close. Nevertheless, Aliağa had a 69-63 edge entering the final 5 minutes. Then the visitors suddenly got sloppy at both ends and Beşiktaş Cola Turka took advantage of it to crawl back within 1 at 71-70 with under 2:00 remaining. Aliağa retaliated with a layup down the stretch to make it 73-70, but Cevher drained a three-pointer and leveled the score at 73-73 with 7 seconds left to play. When everyone in the arena was starting to think that the game would go into overtime, Reha stepped up and drilled a last- second three-pointer from downtown to help visitors escape with a dramatic 76-73 win.