As a part of preseason preparations, Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball entered Schweppes European Trophy Tournament in Belgium and beat home side Spirou Charleroi, 86-78.

The game took place in Namur city in front of 1000 spectators. A small but vocal Beşiktaş crowd of nearly 100 made of mostly compatriot workers cheered their favorite team on with Turkish flags throughout the game. The Black and White fielded a starting five consisting of Chatman, Muratcan, Brad Newley, Cevher and Kevin Fletcher.
The home team Charleroi started hot and jumped out to a 9-0 lead with back-to-back threes, forcing Beşiktaş Coach Burak Bıyıktay to take an early timeout. As the quarter progressed, the Black and White found its offensive rhythm and pulled within 16-12 at the halfway point. The Black Eagles even managed to tie the score at 16 on Brad Newley’s jumper with 3:00 to go but still trailed 23-21 going into second.  At the end of first, the Eagles top scorer Brad Newley, who was playing with 7 points, had 3 fouls on him.
The Black and White got off to a fast start in the second frame and grabbed a 31-27 edge after three minutes on a three-pointer by Haluk Yıldırım that drew a large applause from the Beşiktaş fans. Despite leading most of the second stanza, Beşiktaş went to locker room down, 43-41.
The Eagles opened the third with Lonny Baxter’s layup and went on to establish a four-point, 47-43, advantage at the 22nd minute mark. With 2:00 to play in the third, Muratcan Güler committed his second an unsportsmanlike foul and was ejected from the game. In spite of this setback, Beşiktaş Cola Turka maintained control of the game and was holding a 63-60 lead after three quarters of play.
The teams traded baskets to start the final frame, and the Black and White was up 70-67 with six minutes to play. The Black Eagles eventually tightened up on defense and prevented the home team from getting inside shots. Then Haluk Yıldırım drilled another there-pointer from deep corner to give Beşiktaş an 81-75 edge entering the final two minutes. Captain Haluk Yıldırım combined with Brad Newley and Lonny Baxter in the remaining minutes to lift the Black and White to a convincing 86-78 victory over Spirou Charleroi as Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball won its first Schweppes European Trophy contest.
The Eagles will face Base Oostende in the semifinal on Saturday, September 5 at 22:00 (Turkish Time) to reach the final.
Haluk Yıldırım led the Eagles with 17 points, while Brad Newley (14), Chatman (12), Cevher (12), Fletcher (10), Baxter (9), Adem (7) and Muratcan (5) all contributed to the scoring of the victors