Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball picked up an 86-74 road win over Banvit in Week 25 of the Beko Basketball League.

After Ray Wesson and Joe Crispin exchanged three-pointers to open the first, the teams went on an early scoring draught, until Jimmy Baxter’s layup gave the Black and White a 5-3 edge nearly four minutes into the game. But Banvit managed to tie the game at 7-7 midway through the quarter on a pair of jumpers by Andre Brown and Caner Topaloğlu. Nevertheless, Haluk Yıldırım’s 27-foot three-pointer from the left corner and a tip-in by Ray Wesson put Beşiktaş Cola Turka back in front, 12-9 with 4.15 left. From then on, Wesson dominated over the host team Banvit, especially on the painted area to push the visitors’ lead to 8 at 17-9 entering the final two minutes. However, Joe Crispin and Umut Yenice would drain back-to-back threes in the dying minutes to narrow the gap to 17-15 heading into second frame.

At the outset of the second, Haluk Yıldırım found Mire Chatman open for a three-pointer to stretch the margin to 5 points. Umut Yenice responded right back with a quick bucket to keep Banvit within striking distance. As the game progressed, Williams got some easy buckets inside for the Bandırma City team, but the hot-shooting duo of Baxter and Cevher made sure that the Black and White remained safely ahead throughout the quarter. Then, Muratcan Güler and Wesson started nailing their outside shots to make it 36-31 for Beşiktaş and forced a Banvit timeout. The new tactic appeared to work, as Yunus Çankaya and Yiğitcan combined for 5 unanswered points and knotted the score at 36-all with 2:20 remaining. However, thanks to a string of clutch jumpers by Cevher Özer and Jimmy Baxter, the Black and White headed into the locker room at the break with a 42-38 advantage.

The beginning of the third quarter saw both teams having trouble finding baskets early on; as they went scoreless for the first two minutes of the second half until Ray Wesson unleashed a three-pointer behind the arch to end the draught. After Caner Topaloğlu and Muratcan Güler traded baskets, Banvit suddenly came alive and put together an 11-2 run to take a 49-48 lead at the halfway mark behind consecutive baskets from Caner Topaloğlu and Andre Brown. Soon after, Williams and Brown converted layups to extend the home team’s margin, but a barrage of three-pointers by Haluk Yıldırım put the Black and White back on top, 58-55, with one quarter to play.

Turning to zone defense, Beşiktaş Cola Turka opened the fourth with Cevher Özer’s three-pointer and boosted its advantage to 61-55. But Banvit refused to go away and crept close to the Black and White before finally tying at 61 with 7:00 to play off Crispin’s 14-foot fadeaway. The home team’s refusal to bow out had no impact on visitors’ offensive output, as Haluk Yıldırım and Mire Chatman teamed up to knock down back-to-back threes that pulled the Black and White ahead, 70-65, at the midway point. Unable to halt the Beşiktaş Cola Turka’s surge, Banvit trailed, 75-65, in the closing minutes and had to take a timeout to talk things over. Despite Crispin’s three-pointer, Banvit came up empty on quite of few occasions and never regained the shooting touch it lost, while the Black and White had an excellent time at the free-throw lane to walk away with a comfortable 86-74 victory.