Fener seeks victory to lead Euro group

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Fenerbahçe Ülker center Oğuz Savaş (R) tries to block a shot by Olympiacos’ Vassilis Spanoulis during the two teams’ Turkish Airlines Euroleague Group A match in Istanbul on Dec 1, 2011. REUTERS photo

Fenerbahçe Ülker hosts Gescrap Bizkaia Bilbao in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague tonight to get a ticket for the next round of the competition.

Another Turkish team in the competition, Anadolu Efes, will visit Maccabi Electra tonight.

Fenerbahçe Ülker leads the Group A in the competition, but it is yet to punch the ticket for the Top 16, even though second-place Bennet Cantu has made it through.

Fenerbahçe Ülker (5-3) will qualify to the Top 16 with a win, but it may also get through with a loss depending on other results.

Gescrap (3-5) will be out of the Top 16 race if it loses and both Caja Laboral and Olympiacos win their respective Group A showdowns.

Fenerbahçe Ülker has won five of its last six games but Bilbao is coming off a win at Laboral.
Olympiacos hosts Bennet Cantu in another game in the group tonight.

Anadolu Efes is more comfortable than Fenerbahçe Ülker, since it has made it to the next round, but it will try to advance to the next round in the best possible position.

Both teams are tied for second place at 5-3 so the winner will take a huge step towards a higher ranking at the end of this phase. Points difference will be critical if Efes wins the game, as Maccabi registered a 72-79 road win against the Turkish stalwart earlier this season.

However, Efes’ last win in Tel Aviv came in the 2001-02 Euroleague regular season.

Since then, Maccabi has won their last three showdowns at Nokia Arena.

Fenerbahçe vs. Bilbao match starts at 8 p.m. while the Maccabi vs. Efes tip-off is at 9:45 p.m. Both games will be shown live on NTV Spor.