Fenerbahce hold on to beat Olympiacos / News - Basketnews.com

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul had an outstanding start to the game against Olympiacos Piraeus in Istanbul and held on to defend against the Greek team's comeback.

Credit: Tolga Adanali/EuroLeague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Tolga Adanali/EuroLeague Basketball via Getty Images

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (5-1) never trailed against Olympiacos Piraeus (3-3), even being up by 16 points on two separate occasions in the first half, and showed strong composure when the Greek team mounted a huge comeback.

Player of the Game EFF 19 Georgios Papagiannis Points 15 Accuracy 6-8 Rebounds 2 Assists 1

The Turkish club achieved a 79-77 (29-14, 17-19, 12-24, 21-20) win, recording its 5th win of the season.

The first quarter was all Fenerbahce, as the Turkish powerhouse had an amazing showing behind a spectacular performance by Dyshawn Pierre, who scored 14 points on perfect field goal shooting of 5/5: 29-14.

Nothing much changed in the second quarter, as Fenerbahce continued to be very dominant: 46-33. However, Pierre had to exit the game with leg pain and did not return.

In the third quarter, Olympiacos showed character and scored twice as much as Fenerbahce. Thanks to the combined efforts of Moustapha Fall, Alec Peters, and Isaiah Canaan, the Greek team cut the deficit to just 1 before the start of the fourth quarter (57-58).

The fourth quarter was full of drama as Dimitris Itoudis made the decision to keep Yam Madar in the game instead of Marko Guduric.

Fenerbahce suffered from a lack of guard creation, and their most productive center in the game, Johnathan Motley, fouled out with 4 minutes and 47 seconds remaining in the game.

Olympiacos tried to catch Fenerbahce in transition offenses, and Nikola Milutinov's two-pointer tied the score for the first time since the very beginning of the game at 71-71.

After the tied game, Georgios Papagiannis stepped up, delivering a three-pointer, increasing the lead to 74-71. With that, the Greek center dominated throughout the remaining 3 minutes and 12 seconds.

The former Panathinaikos player scored 5 clutch points on 2/2 field goals in a short time, giving Fenerbahce a 5-point edge.

Olympiacos were not ready to give up, and a quick 3-pointer by Alec Peters drew them back in the game: 77-79.

A difficult position in which the ball went out of bounds during Fenerbahce's offense was decided by referees to be Olympiacos's ball, and the Greek team had the chance to either tie or win the game with 17 seconds remaining before the end of the game.

Ultimately, the red-and-white team could not convert a difficult shot by Nigel Williams-Goss, and Milutinov mistimed the offensive rebound. Fenerbahce came away with a narrow victory.

For Fenerbahce, Georgios Papagiannis was clutch and the highest scorer of the team with 15 points. He was followed by Dyshawn Pierre, who was able to play only one quarter. Olympiacos found solace in Alec Peters's performance, who had 19 points and 6 rebounds.

Fenerbahce: Papagiannis 15, Pierre 14, Motley 10, Hayes-Davis 9, 7 REB, 4 AST

Olympiacos: Peters 19, 6 REB, Canaan 15, Williams-Goss 13

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