Galatasaray beat Spartak Saint Petersburg 69-58 in the first leg of the Eurocup Qualifying Round on Wednesday in Turkey.

Galatasaray's win was based on a balanced attack with three players- Evren Buker, Joshua Shipp and Ermal Kuqo- scoring 12 points apiece.

Spartak was led by Miha Zupan's game-high 14 points, while Petar Popovic added 10 points and Anton Ponkrashov dished out 7 assists in the loss.

Galatasaray edged out to an early 15-11 lead on a jump shot made by Shipp to cap a low-scoring first quarter.

A pair of free throws by Preston Shumpert saw the home side up by ten (34-24) with under two minutes to go before the halftime break, but a three-pointer by Zupan cut the difference for Spartak.

Lukas Andric made two free-throws to edge Besiktas out to a 45-35 bulge in the third and a Shumpert three-pointer sent the home team into the fourth up 51-41.

The Besiktas lead grew to 63-50 mid-way through the final period, but Spartak was able to reduce the difference enough to keep hope alive for the second leg to be played in Russia on October 6.