Efes Pilsen pulled of an 81-80 win over Beşiktaş Cola Turka Men’s Basketball at İzmir Karşıyaka Sports Hall in a Teknosa Turkish Cup Group A opener.

After Muratcan Güler and Mire Chatman hit back-to-back jumpers to start the game, Efes Pilsen answered with a pair of jumpers by Sinan Güler and Mario Kasun to tie the score. Then, Smith drilled a three-pointer behind the arch and pulled the Pilsen ahead, 7-3. From that point on, the game turned into an offensive battle with neither side gaining any decisive advantage. Despite consecutive layups from Brad Newley, Efes Pilsen went on to reclaim the lead behind a strong performance by Kerem Tunçeri and Kaya Peker midway through quarter. Nevertheless, Beşiktaş Cola Turka climbed back in front, 16-13, on a Fletcher jumper with 1:07 left. But, Kaya Peker and Smith teamed up to give Efes Pilsen a slim 17-16 edge, going into the second stanza.
 At the onset of the second, Kaya Peker and Shumpert each nailed a shot from the painted area and stretched the margin to 5 points at 21-16. The Black Eagles came back to knot the score on a three-pointer by Cevher Özer with under seven minutes remaining. Although Baxter and Cevher Özer dug deep to keep the game close, Kasun and Kaya Peker knocked down a number of 15-footers to restore a 4-point lead for the dark blue and white at the halfway mark. Efes Pilsen capitalized on Beşiktaş Cola Turka’s turnovers in the remaining minutes and carried a 44-34 cushion into the locker room at the intermission.
A string of unanswered buckets from Charles Smith and Kerem Tunçeri highlighted a strong start in the second half for the dark blue and white, as they extended the margin to 18 points with an 8-0 run less than three minutes into third. Unable to get on the scoreboard for the first 2:30, Beşiktaş Cola Turka got its first basket of the half on a three from Haluk Yıldrım. While the Black and White tried to get back into the game with long-range bombs but failed, Efes Pilsen pushed the gap to 20 points at 61-41 with 4:10 to go. Then, Kevin Fletcher ripped off 10 straight points to pull the Black Eagles within 61-51 entering the final minute. Nonetheless, after Ender Arslan drove in for a layup to end the Beşiktaş run; a last-second Preston Schumpert three-pointer helped Efes take a 66-53 edge into the fourth frame.
The dark blue and white team from Istanbul opened the final stanza with Shumpert’s 14-foot fadeaway and took the lead back to 15 points. However, led by the hot-shooting trio of Brad Newley, Muratcan Güler and Mire Chatman, the Eagles rallied back with a 10-2 spurt of their own to cut the deficit to seven, 70-63, after four minutes of play. But riding the scoring of Bootsy Thornton, Efes Pilsen was still up by 8 points, 76-68, with 2:39 remaining in regulation. Then, Engin Atsür capped a 5-0 run with a three-pointer from the top of the key down the stretch to get Beşiktaş Cola Turka within three points of Efes. Thanks to a couple of clutch shots by Mire Chatman and Haluk Yıldırım, the Black and White managed to narrow the gap to just 2 points at 79-77, heading into the last minute of the game. When Brad Newley tossed in a trey from downtown to respond Kerem Tunçeri’s jumper, only one pointed separated the two teams with 45 seconds left on the clock. Beşiktaş Cola had a golden opportunity to steal the show in the dying seconds, but Mire Chatman’s 10-foot jumper over Kerem Tunçeri circled the rim and popped out, as Efes held on for a hotly-contested 81-80 victory.