Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball edged past visiting Galatasaray Cafe Crown, 66-58, at BJK Cola Turka Arena in a Week-12 contest of the Beko Basketball League.

Despite playing without Mire Chatman, Dennis Mims and Head Coach Hakan Demir, who were suspended in the previous league match-up, our boys in Black and White put out a strong performance against formidable Galatasaray and won their fifth game in a row; while their crosstown rival suffered just its second loss of the season.

Right after Mehmet Yağmur opened the scoring for the host team with an 18-foot jumper from the left wing, Beşiktaş Cola Turka displayed great hustle and tenacious defense that kept Galatasaray Cafe Crown scoreless for the first two and a half minutes; as it raced out to an early 4-0 lead. Then, the red and yellow squad’s top defensive player, Erdem Türetken, who was unable to stop Jimmy Baxter under the hoop, picked up his third foul; and the Black and White stretched its advantage to 8-0 midway through the quarter on back-to-back layups by Jimmy Baxter and Mehmet Yağmur. Rashid Atkin’s interrupted Beşiktaş’s run with a tip-in, but Muratcan Güler answered right back to make it 10-2 at the 6:00 mark. After Antonio Graves and Muratcan Güler exchanged buckets, Adem Ören connected on a 12-foot jumper and pushed the lead to 10 points, 14-4, with 3:51 left to play. In response to Milan Gurovic’s three-pointer, which brought the deficit down to 7 points at 14-7, Cevher Özer drove to the hoop for a layup and gave his club a 16-7 advantage entering the final two minutes. However, Cuneyt Erden and Polat Kocaoğlu would each hit three-pointers from the top of the key for the visitors to narrow the gap to 19-13 with 59 seconds to go. Galatasaray Cafe Crown sustained its offensive run in the dying seconds and pulled within 5 points, 20-15, at the end of the opening quarter on Andrija Zizic’s layup after Muratcan sank only one of his two free-throws.

The visitors carried their momentum from late first quarter right into the second; and tied the score at 20-20 with Andrija Zizic’s 5 consecutive points one minute into the frame. Nevertheless, Mehmet Yağmur and Adem Ören drained a pair of open jump shots in the painted area to put Beşiktaş Cola Turka quickly back on top, 25-20. With 7:36 showing on the clock, Cüneyt Erden drilled a three-pointer from the right corner to bring Galatasaray within 25-23; but Cevher Özer and Mehmet Yağmur stepped up and made back-to-back layups to ensure that Beşiktaş Cola Turka would stay safely ahead, 29-23, at the halfway mark. However, the red and yellow refused to go away; as Hüseyin Beşok and Rashid Atkins combined to score 6 points to help their team creep within 31-29 with 4:43 left. Then, Galatasaray managed to cut the lead to 1 point on Hüseyin Beşok’s free-throw; but failed to pull ahead, because a 25-foot three-pointer by Cevher Özer widened the gap to 34-30 at the 2:04 mark. Heading into the final minute, Antonio Graves’s long three-point shot from behind the arch again trimmed the deficit to 34-33; however Ömer Ünver would pour in six unanswered points in the waning seconds to give Beşiktaş Cola Turka a 40-33 halftime edge.

After Mehmet Yağmur opened the second half with a jumper, the visitors tried to remain within striking distance with consecutive buckets by Hüseyin Beşok and Rashid Atkins; nonetheless, hot-shooting Cevher Özer continued to hit shots from the perimeter at a consistent rate to extend the lead to 8 points, 47-39 with 7:10 to go. From that point on, thanks to Hüseyin Beşok’s superior rebounding, Galatasaray Cafe Crown began to dominate the glass on both ends; as Milan Gurovic capped a 6-0 spurt with a turnaround jumper that tightened it to 49-47 at the 3:52 mark. Then, Cüneyt Erden took advantage of an unforced Beşiktaş turnover and drove in for a layup to tie the game at 49. With a minute remaining in the third stanza, Haluk Yıldırım swished a three-pointer from downtown to reclaim the lead for the Black and White; however, Cüneyt Erden and Andrija Zizic would respond with two quick baskets and put the visitors up, 53-52, going into the final quarter.

Undeterred by its opponent’s late surge, Beşiktaş Cola Turka opened the fourth with Cevher Özer’s running jumper and regained the lead at 54-53. While the visitors were having trouble to get off a clean shot, the Black and White stretched the margin to 56-53 on Mehmet Yağmur’s layup with 7:50 to play. But Galatasaray Cafe Crown clawed its way back into the game on Milan Gurovic’s three-pointer and tied the score at 56-56 midway through the final stanza. Nonetheless, two free- throws by Muratcan Güler fired the Black and White back on top, 58-56, with 4:33 remaining. Then the visiting red and yellow team suddenly got sloppy on both ends and was unable to contain Cevher Özer and Muratcan Güler under the basket. The hot-shooting duo knocked down consecutive jump shots to push the lead to 62-56 with only 1:35 left. Galatasaray made a last-ditch attempt to stay alive but kept missing shot after shot; while the red-hot Beşiktaş Cola Turka got two clutch baskets from Jimmy Baxter and Mehmet Yağmur down the stretch to emerge with a hard-fought 66-58 victory.