Professional basketballer Johnny Hamilton's Fenerbahce Beko fell to its first defeat of the season on Wednesday in the Turkish Euroleague after being edged by CSKA, 78-77 in overtime after the scores were tied, 69-69, at the end of regulation time.
The T&T centre saw limited minutes in the defeat and although he did not score any baskets, pulled down three rebounds in the hard-fought match-up which saw Fenerbahce narrowly trailing, in the opening two quarters, 10-12 in the first and 31-32 at the half.
In the second half, Hamilton's unit which was led offensively by guard Nando de Colo of France with 21 points and shooting guard American Jarelll Eddie (18), managed to outscore CSKA, 20-17, to gain a 51-49 lead at the close of the third period.
However, their opponents did not go away and launched a comeback in the fourth quarter and to level the scores at 69 when time expired.
The match-up remained intense into the extra period but its was CSKA adding nine points compared to Fenerbahce's eight, to seal the close one-point win, its second in three rounds of matches. In round one, CSKA suffered a 76-66 loss to Barcelona and rebounded in the second round to defeat Maccabi Tel Aviv, 76-72.
Fenerbahce also has two wins thus far this season, topping Crvena zvezda (77-63) and Anadolu Efes (80-71), respectively, in the 18-team competition. It sits in second place in the standings behind unbeaten Zalgris after three rounds. Hamilton showed up on both ends of the court against Anadolu Efes scoring 18 and grabbing seven rebounds but it was not to be this time around.
However, he and his teammates will be aiming to regroup in round four in the Euroleague, scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) with Fenerbahce meeting Bayern Munich. Then on Sunday in round four action in the Basketball Super League, Hamilton and his team will face off against Gaziantep.