Fenerbahce Beko clinch EuroLeague regular season lead

By Can Erozden</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – Turkish basketball giants Fenerbahce Beko clinched the lead in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague regular season late Thursday, beating Italian opponents AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 104-90.</p> <p>Fenerbahce Beko's Serbian forward Nikola Kalinic, who was selected as the player of the game, scored 22 points for his team.</p> <p>The Turkish club's point guard, Ali Muhammed, produced 23 points against AX Armani Exchange.</p> <p>The Italian club's U.S. forward, James Nunnally, racked up 26 points against Fenerbahce Beko and was the top scorer of the game.</p> <p>Dictating the game held at the Mediolanum Forum near Milan, visitors Fenerbahce Beko took a large halftime lead of 52-42.</p> <p>Fenerbahce Beko won Thursday's game even though many stars of the Istanbul team such as Greek guard Kostas Sloukas, Czech center Jan Vesely and French center-forward Joffrey Lauvergne didn't play.</p> <p>The away victory in the Round 29 game saw Fenerbahce Beko clinch the lead in the EuroLeague regular season as the Istanbul heavyweights earned their 24th win this season.</p> <p>They lost only five games.</p> <p>Regular season leaders Fenerbahce Beko have already qualified for the next phase, the EuroLeague playoffs.</p> <p>Sixteen teams are competing in league — four Spanish, three Turkish, two Russian and two Greek teams and one team each from Germany, Italy, Israel, Lithuania and Montenegro.</p> <p>Meanwhile, Thursday's losers, AX Armani Exchange, have risked their playoff chances as they are now in eighth spot in the standings.</p> <p>The regular season is being played from Oct. 11, 2018 to April 5, 2019 with the top eight advancing to the playoffs to be held from April 16-30.</p> <p>The winners will advance to the Final Four on May 17-19 at Fernando Buesa Arena in the Spanish city of Vitoria-Gasteiz in single-elimination matchups.</p> <p>In addition to Fenerbahce Beko, CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Anadolu Efes from Istanbul and Barcelona Lassa have secured playoff spots.