Virtus falls in Istanbul, heart and determination are not enough

Istanbul, January 31, 2025 - Too much Fenerbahce for this willing Virtus. At the Ulker Sports And Event Hall in Istanbul it ends with the success of the Turkish hosts by 95-81. Vince, let's clarify with merit the Fener, always ahead in the score, but still credit to Dusko Ivanovic's team that tries to stay on top, fights until the end. Heart and determination for the black and whites led by a great Toko Shengelia, truly unstoppable, emblem of a team that tried until the 40th minute. The Georgian reaches his highest number of points in the Euroleague, closing his extraordinary performance at 35 (39 rating). Fenerbahce on fire after 10 victories consecutive between the championship and the Euroleague, where the Turks have won the last 5 challenges. In the first leg, on November 20th, they won in Fener 82-86.

Zizic and Clyburn are missing, waiting for membership, expected in these hours, Justin Holiday. Hackett returns to the table, while coach Ivanovic relies on Pajola, Cordinier, Tucker, Shengelia and Diouf at the start of the match. Balanced start to the challenge then Fenerbahce manages to turn the initial inertia of the match on their side at 14-8. The yellow and blacks reach their maximum advantage a handful of seconds before the first stop with a triple by Melli for 22-13. Fenerbahce reaches its maximum advantage at 25-15. But Virtus is there.

Defensively the black and whites they manage to contain Fenerbahce, while in attack they find a good fluidity, with the triple by Belinelli that is worth 36-33 in the 16th minute, the end is still for the home team who return to extend but without ever reaching the double digit advantage, which instead Fenerbahce reaches in the second half first on 54-42 in the 23rd minute and then even more on 58-44 in the 25th minute. A stunning Shengelia Virtus charges and comes back to -9 on 60-51. Tucker also gets hurt and here the Turks stretch touching 69-51 with Virtus at -18 at 29'. In the last quarter Fener stretches and holds the lead without difficulty; in Virtus we also see Visconti who also immediately scores a nice triple, first shot-first basket and first points in the Euroleague, while on the other side Mahmutoglu's triple allows the yellow-black flag to surpass 1000 points in his career. The Euroleague parenthesis is closed, Sunday is already championship time for the V Nere who will face Reyer Venezia at the Segafredo Arena.

The little table

FENERBAHCE ISTANBUL 95 VIRTUS BOLOGNA 81 FENERBAHCE BEKO ISTANBUL: Guduric 17, Zagars 6, Hayes-Davies 8, Colson 12, Birch; Mc Collum 15, Melli 8, Sanli 11, Mahmutoglu 3, Biberovic 9, Hall 6, Pierre. All Jasikevicius. VIRTUS SEGAFREDO BOLOGNA: Pajola, Cordinier 12, Tucker, Shengelia 35, Diouf 2; Belinelli 3, Hackett 4, Grazulis 7, Morgan 11, Polonara 2, Akele 2, Visconti 3. Coach Ivanovic. Referees: Perez, Zamojski, Baena. Notes: partial scores 22-13, 46-37, 69-54. Two-pointers: Fenerbahce 18/27; Virtus 24/44. Three-pointers: 17/29; 4/11. Free throws 8/12; 21/25. Rebounds: 26; 25.