Photo: fenerbahce.org

Bogdan Bogdanovic beat the buzzer with a three-pointer from the wing to give Fenerbahce Istanbul a dramatic 67-65 victory over Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul in the final game of the Turkish Cup on Sunday in Bursa.

It was Fenerbahce’s first cup victory since it won three of four between 2010 and 2013, and Bogdanovic’s shot, after an offensive rebound by Ekpe Udoh, denied Darussafaka its first trophy of any kind since 1962 despite its valiant comeback from 10 points down shortly after halftime. Bogdanovic led the winners with 21 points, while Jan Vesely had 14 to go with 9 rebounds.

Manuchar Markoishvili rallied Darussafaka with 16 points and Scottie Wilbekin had 15 including the go-ahead shot with 15 seconds left, which looked like a trophy-winner until Bogdanovic had the last word.

Big men dominated the scoring early until Jamon Gordon’s 4 points in a row put Darussafaka ahead 8-12. Bogdanovic nailed the game’s first three-pointer then to spark an 8-0 Fenerbahce takeover of the scoreboard that resulted in a 21-18 difference after 10 minutes.

Ricky Hickman’s 4 points in a row pushed the lead to 26-18 but Wilbekin got them all back for Darussafaka. Melih Mahmutoglu and Bogdanovic combined for 5 quick points at 35-24 before Bobby Dixon, from downtown, supplied the first double-digit lead, 38-27.

Markoishvili was the answer man for Darussafaka with 5 points in the last 65 seconds before halftime to pull his team within 38-33. Bogdanovic and Vesely restored a double-digit lead, 43-33, for Fenerbahce right after the break, but three-pointers by Reggie Redding and Mehmet Yagmur kept Darussafaka close.

The teams traded baskets until Markoishvili re-emerged with back-to-back triples that cut the difference to 54-51. He hit another early in the fourth quarter and Wilbekin copied him for a new Darussafaka lead, 57-59. Luigi Datome tied before Bogdanovic detonated a go-ahead triple for Fenerbahce at 62-59, but Marcus Slaughter answered with an alley-oop dunk for Darussafaka and Markoishvili took back the lead, 62-63.

Vesely did the same for Fenerbahce at 64-63 with 1:22 to play. A full minute passed before Darussafaka got the ball to Wilbekin after a timeout and he scored going to the basket to make it 64-65 with 15 seconds left.

After its own timeout, Fenerbahce saw a shot by Datome miss, but Udoh fought for the rebound and sent it back out to the perimeter, where Bogdanovic decided it all in one shot.

Source: Euroleague.net