ANKARA
Turkish basketball club Fenerbahce Beko beat Monaco 95-91 in overtime in France to lead 1-0 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs on Wednesday.
Fenerbahce Beko’s Nigel Hayes-Davis led the Istanbul club, scoring 19 points against Monaco at Salle Gaston Medecin.
In addition, Greek playmaker Nick Calathes scored 17 points and US forward Nathan Sestina added 16 points for Fenerbahce Beko.
Monaco trio Elie Okobo (19 points), Jordan Loyd (16) and Mike James (16) combined for 51 points, but they couldn’t avoid a critical home loss.
The Istanbul club took the home-court advantage from Monaco in the best-of-five playoff series.
Confident Fenerbahce Beko are eyeing Game 2 on Friday at Salle Gaston Medecin. Then both teams will travel to Istanbul for Game 3 on May 1.
The fourth game will also be in Istanbul on May 3 if needed.
In the other game of the night, Greek club Olympiacos won at Barcelona 77-75 in Game 1. The next game will be also played in Spain on Friday.
The teams, who took three wins in the playoff ties, will qualify for the Final Four in Berlin.
