Nymburk traveled to Istanbul tonight to take on Fenerbahce in Group A of the FIBA Europe League. With their victory last week against Galil Elyon, Fenerbahce secured their number one ranking as the playoffs approach. With this added confidence, the home team got off to a strong start before a crowd of 1,000 fans behind Omer Onan's outside shooting. However aggressive play by Nymburk's Jiri Zidek kept the game within three points after the first period.
Fenerbahce changed things up at the start of the second quarter seeing that Nymburk wasn't hitting from outside, and came out in a zone. With this stifling defense, the home team created many turnovers which they converted to baskets on the offensive end.
During the second quarter, Fenerbahce continued to be led offensively by Omer (17 pts) and Damir Mrsic (11 pts). The duo helped their team gain a 10-point advantage at halftime.
After the first five minutes of play in the third quarter, Fenerbahce managed to extend their lead to 13 points with Mark Salyers' two three-pointers and a couple of baskets by Chris Booker. However Nymburk refused to give in and ended up outscoring the home team by a point to cut the lead to nine at the end of the period.
The visitors carried their momentum into the fourth quarter and closed the gap behind baskets by Radek Necas, and briefly took a four-point lead with just over five minutes remaining.
At this point Fenerbahce's leader Mrsic stepped up and drilled three consecutive three-pointers.
The score flip-flopped back and forth, but in the end Erdal Bibo's three-pointer off of a Mrsic pass sealed the victory for Fenerbahce. With the win, Fenerbahce remains unbeaten at home and maintains their first-place ranking in Group A.
Mrsic finished the game with 23 points and 9 assists for the home team. Nymburk's Ridek led all scorers with 26 points.
