Our Men’s Handball pulled out a 27-26 victory over Milli Piyango at Süleyman Seba Sports Hall in Game 1 of their semifinal series for a 1-0 lead.

Thanks to a productive outing by Ramazan, the Black and White jumped out to an early lead. The visitors fought back to stay close, but goalkeeper İbrahim kept them at bay with consecutive saves. Then Oğuzhan teamed up with Zelic to put together a late Beşiktaş rally that gave their team a 12-9 advantage at the half.

Milli Piyango looked much stronger in the second half; as their Serbian star Djuric started chipping away at the lead with back-to-back goals from both wings. Despite a series of goals by Utku, Zelic and Ramazan, the margin was reduced to one at 20-19 midway through the second half. Then, the teams matched each other point for point and locked in a 23-23 tie with 6:00 to go in regulation. Neverthless, Bülent stepped up and scored two clutch goals in the dying seconds to secure a close 27-26 win for Beşiktaş.