Visiting Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball met Türk Telokom at Atatürk Sports Hal in Ankara on Matchday 7 of the Beko Basketball League and slumped to an 87-83 defeat.

Tutku Açık knocked down the first field goal of the opening quarter for Turk Telekom with a 20-foot jumper to give his club an early lead. The Black and White never got the clicking it wanted in the early going and came up empty on its first 4 scoring attempts. On the other hand, Dudley and Winston drained back-to-back baskets to put Turk Telekom ahead, 9-2, midway through the quarter. Then the Ankara team starting playing an aggressive defense and widened the gap to 10 points at 16-6 with 3:00 left on the clock. But Beşiktaş Cola Turka refused to go away and rallied back behind the duo of Cevher and Chatman to trail by only 6 points, 23-17, entering the second quarter.
Early in the second, the Black and White responded Bekir Yarangüme’s jumpers with Mire Chatman’s layups and kept the score close. As the quarter progressed, our boys in Black and White took control and managed to erase the deficit on a string of unanswered buckets by Chatman and Cevher. Then Beşiktaş Cola Turka’s new transfer Baxter turned it on and reeled off consecutive points to give the Black and White its first lead in the game. In the closing stages, Mehmet Yağmur and Baxter poured it on their hosts to extend the margin to 6 points; however, Turk Telokom rode the scoring punches of Winston and Blakney and would not let the visitors to steal the show. Beşiktaş Cola Turka went to the locker room at the half nursing a slim 41-40 edge.
The teams traded basket s for most of the quarter in the third and were locked in a 47-47 tie at the halfway mark. However, the representatives from Capital City managed to open up a 5- point lead at 59-54 on back-to-back jumpers by the trio of Winston, Serkan Erdoğan and Dudley with 3:00 remaining. Despite Winston’s hot hand, Cevher Özer and Haluk Yıldırım buried a number of clutch shots to keep the Black and White within striking distance. Turk Telekom held a narrow a 62-59 advantage after three quarters of play.
Beşiktaş Cola Turka fell into an unexpected scoring drought at the outset of the final frame and watched the Turk Telokom extend its lead to 8 points. Nevertheless, they regrouped and came back to level the score at 70 on consecutive layups by Chatman and Cevher midway through the stanza. But the host team was still clinging to a 76-73 lead entering the final three minutes of the play. The Black and White turned to zone defense to trim the deficit but could not find a way to stop Tutku Açık’s three-pointers. Then Roderick Blakney stepped up and made some key baskets down the stretch to help the blue and white home team pull off a tight 87-83 victory over their visitors.