Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul need one more win in order to reclaim the Turkish Basketball League title, after blasting rivals Anadolu Efes 93-78 (18-20, 36-12, 20-17, 19-29) in Game 2 at the Ulker Sports Arena.
Game 3 will be hosted at the Sinan Erdem on Saturday, June 11, at 18:00 CEST.
Marko Guduric and Jan Vesely scored 18 points apiece for Fenerbahce, while Tarik Biberovic added 17, most of them in the second quarter.
Shane Larkin and returning Vasilije Micic combined for 17 points on 5/16 from the field, leaving everything to Elijah Bryant who finished with a game-high 19 points.
The outing was decided very early, when Fenerbahce held the Turkish champs scoreless in the first six minutes of the second quarter, gradually building a huge lead, which came up to 16 points (36-20).
Marko Guduric was the real game-changer, as the Serbian guard-forward scored 11 straight points, helping his team overcome an underwhelming first quarter (18-20).
When Elijah Bryant put an end to the slump, the hosts had already gone on a 18-0 run.
Fener's offensive party continued unabated, as Sasa Djordjevic's men kept scoring in transition, getting advantage of all the mismatches and of Jan Vesely's size, but also of Vasilije Micic's obvious unreadiness after the injury that the Serb sustained in Game 5 vs. Galatasaray in the semis.
Although Shane Larkin tried to keep the EuroLeague champs afloat with 10 points and 3 assists in the first half, he committed 3 turnovers that resulted in fastbreak chances for Fenerbahce.
With the score at 54-32 for Fenerbahce after the first 20 minutes, Game 2 was essentially over way before the final buzzer.
Elijah Bryant scored 7 quick points in the third quarter to fire up Efes' chances (56-39), but Devin Booker made sure that the margin would remain close to 20 points. The American big man scored six points in a row, while Marko Guduric carried the torch once again, concluding another (11-0) run for the hosts that made it 70-42.
There was no way out for Anadolu Efes, who got no points from any of their bench players in the first 27 minutes of the contest.
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul: Marko Guduric 18 (5/8 FG, 5/5 FT), Jan Vesely 18 (7/10 FG, 4/4 FT, 8 REB, 3 AST,, 3 TO, 2 ST), Tarik Biberovic 17 (5/10 FG, 4/4 FT), Nando De Colo 16 (5/5 FG, 2/2 FT), Devin Booker 13.
Anadolu Efes Istanbul: Elijah Bryant 19 (8/11 FG, 4 REB), Ahmet Tuncer 12, Shane Larkin 10 (3/7 FG, 5 AST, 4 TO), Tibor Pleiss 9, Omer Ilyasoglu 8, Vasilije Micic 7 (2/9 FG, 3 AST).
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