Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men Basketball Team drops a 77-72 decision to visiting Benetton Treviso at Akatlar Cola Turka Arena in its first Euro Cup Group-C contest.

The Black and White began the game with a starting lineup consisting of Chatman, Baxter, Muratcan, Cevher and Butler against mighty Benetton Treviso -- coached by our own Oktay Mahmuti.
Thanks to a tenacious defense by the duo of Baxter and Butler, Beşiktaş Cola Turka prevented the visitors from getting inside in the early going and jumped out to a 4-3 edge on Cevher’s post-up and Chatman’s free-throws. But Nicevic kept up his starring role and sparked a 6-0 run with back-to-back buckets midway through the opening frame that disrupted the Black and White’s offensive flow and put Benetton up, 9-4. The Black and White kept the score close behind Cevher’s layups and managed to pull within 2 points at 11-9 on his a three-pointer with 3:00 remaining. But the Black and White got outrebounded on both ends in the closing stages and trailed 15-12 heading into the second quarter after Chatman’s missed his final attempt.
At the outset of the second stanza, Neal stepped up for Benetton and took advantage of Chatman’s unforced turnovers to extend his team’s margin to 7 points, 21-15, with 3:00 to play. But Cevher hit 3 consecutive 3-pointers and leveled the score at 32-23 a minute later. Then Muratcan capped Beşiktaş’s 10-2 run with a short jumper to pull his club ahead, 25-23, at the halfway mark. From that point onward, the technical staff of Black and White brought on Adem from the bench to help tighten its defense; as Beşiktaş Cola Turka kept pouring it on its visitors from Italy to build a 7-point cushion at 32-25 with 3:00 left in the half. Then the Black and White began to dominate the boards on both ends of the court and stretched the margin to 15 points, 40-25, on Adem’s outside shots entering the final minute of the second frame. Despite Neal’s last-second layup, Beşiktaş Cola Turka held a commanding 40-27 lead at intermission.
The Black and White-- that went 7-for-12 from the 3-point range in the first half – opened the second half with Haluk’s three-pointer and widened the gap to 16 points. While Mehmet and Mims played solid defense to prevent Benetton from getting a clean-look at the basket, Baxter kept Beşiktaş Cola Turka safely in front with back-to-back dunks. Nevertheless, the Italian squad managed to put together an effective rally on a string of driving lay-ups by Benetton’s young guard Rullo and trimmed the lead to 9 points, 47-38 midway through the third frame. While the Black and White’s shooting cooled off considerably in the dying minutes, Nicevic continued to make clutch layups to keep his club within the striking distance. Beşiktaş Cola Turka was up 52-48 at the end of the third stanza.
Playing much better defense, Benetton Treviso brought the deficit down to 2 points at 54-52 early in the fourth. Beşiktaş Cola Turka retaliated quickly with a barrage of jumpers by Adem and Chatman to restore its 7-point lead and forced the Italians to call an early timeout. But Bennetton Treviso found its offensive rhythm after the timeout; as Lorbek and Rancik combined to score 6 unanswered points to help their team crawl back to within 1 with 7:35 remaining in the game. Soon after Nicevic would capp the 8-0 run with a slam dunk and put the visitors back on top, 60-59. Then Rankic converted Chatman’s turnovers into back-to-back treys and increase the Benetton’s advantage to 67-61 with under 4:00 left on the clock. While Beşiktaş Cola Turka’s defense began to falter, American guard Neal drilled several clutch baskets for Benetton Treviso down the stretch and gave his club a 73-66 edge going into the final minute.  In the dying seconds, Baxter and Cevher knocked down a pair of there-pointers behind the arch to keep their team in the game. And then the Black and White went on to commit a series of last-second tactical fouls to stay alive; but Benetton did not miss any of its free-throws and emerged with a hotly-contested 77-72 victory.