Dexia Stun Besiktas To Reach RS

Dexia Mons Hainaut have pulled off the shock of the new season by knocking off Besiktas to reach the Eurocup Regular Season.

Two years on from their collapse at Valencia which saw Dexia blow a huge first-leg advantage and lose a Qualifying Round tie to La Taronja, Arik Shivek's side hit back from last week's 78-70 defeat in Istanbul and won at home on Tuesday night, 74-63.

Besiktas, despite the presence of an NBA superstar in Deron Williams, weren't good enough over two legs against Mons.

Anthony Slaughter led Dexia with 19 points and Ahmad Nivins contributed 18 and nine rebounds.

Williams, a Team USA Beijing Olympics gold-medal winner who has signed to play for Besiktas during the NBA lockout, made just three of 13 shots from the floor and scored seven points.

He had seven assists but turned the ball over six times.

Making the comeback remarkable for Dexia is that they faced a 17-point deficit on aggregate early in the second half on Tuesday when trailing 37-28.

Justin Cage started the comeback with five straight points for Mons.

Called the team's most important player last season by Shivek, Cage hit a shot from the arc and then scored on a fast-break to spark a 21-2 run which put the Belgian side on top, 49-39.

Shooting guard Slaughter caught fire offensively for the hosts, scoring 11 of the points in that important run.

Four of those came on a made three-pointer because Slaughter was fouled on the shot by Serhat Cetin and went to the line to sink the free-throw.

Dexia didn't take the lead on aggregate for good, however, until Quincy Taylor hit a jump shot for a 59-48 advantage with 5:33 to play.

The veteran then intercepted a pass and went in for a lay-up to stretch the lead to 59-48.

Dexia's advantage ballooned to 66-48 with 4:00 to play on a Warren Carter jumper.

Mons fans weren't able to celebrate until the very end, though, as Besiktas went on a 12-3 spurt to close the gap to 71-60.

Shivek called timeout and when play resumed, Besiktas fouled Taylor and he made only one of two for a 12-point lead.

Williams buried a tough three-pointer with 10 seconds to go to make it 72-63 and leave his side trailing by just a point on aggregate.

Taylor was again fouled just six seconds from time but this time, he drilled both attempts.

That left Besiktas needing a three-pointer to pull level in the tie on aggregate.

After a timeout, Zoran Erceg, wary of being fouled which would prevent him from attempting a three-ball, caught an inbounds pass and put up a wild shot from the arc that missed everything and Dexia rebounded before celebrating a famous win.

Besiktas will now play in the EuroChallenge while Dexia have the chance to follow Valencia's lead of 2010 because they went on to lift the Eurocup after their dramatic triumph in the Qualifying Round.

Quotes Dexia Mons-Hainaut vs. Besiktas Milangaz

Ergin Ataman, Besiktas Milangaz coach:
"I want to congratulate Mons and I wish the team all the best in the future... Dexia played a very good game in the second half."

Mehmet Yagmur, Besiktas Milangaz:
"We played very bad in the third quarter, and everybody is awfully disappointed..."

Arik Shivek, Dexia Mons Hainaut coach:
"I'm very happy. We knew that this game was going to be very difficult. First, because we were eight points behind after the first leg, and also after we went ten points behind during the first half. In fact, we succeeded to play a fantastic third quarter, especially in defense, and I'm very proud of the reaction of my players, with a very strong mentality and a fighting spirit. We were provided with the opportunity to raise the level of our game and that made the difference. We had too much respect for Besiktas in the first half,but when we we led, all my guys knew they were close to a big achievement!"

Sebastien Bellin, Dexia Mons Hainaut:
"It's a great evening for the club, because everybody thought that Besiktas could eat us like a wolf... In fact, the team showed two faces during the game. First,we couldn't play as we wanted, due to the agressive defense of the Turkish team.  But then we put some trust in ourselves, while Besiktas began to look in trouble... We will now be competing on three fronts, with the championship which is beginning ,the cup, and specially the Eurocup which is a reward for the job we did. The opponents will be stronger than in EuroChallenge, and I think it's a good thing for our fans which were fantastic tonight!"