Turkey Nose Serbia, Stay Perfect
Game Summary
Turning point: Novica Velickovic turned the ball over and Hidayet Turkoglu found Ersan Ilyasova for a lay-up and a 67-64 lead with 35 seconds to go in overtime.
Hero: Ilyasova stepped up when his team-mates couldn't. He made seven of 12 shots, including four of six attempts from beyond the arc, and did a bang-up job on the boards.
Stats: Hidayet Turkoglu had a night to forget from an individual standpoint, finishing with just four points on one of 16 shooting. Turkey must also be disappointed at their 18 of 31 performance from the free-throw line.
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Turkey needed overtime but defeated Serbia 69-64 on Monday night to remain undefeated at the EuroBasket and hand the Blues just their second loss in the tournament.
Ersan Ilyasova poured in 22 points and had 11 rebounds for Turkey, who overcame a woeful night at the free-throw line (18 of 31, 58%) and a one-of-16 (6%) shooting effort from the floor by Hedo Turkoglu.
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| Hidayet Türkoglu did not have a good night on offense, but he did record four steals and nearly won the game with a tip in at the buzzer. |
Turkoglu had a game-high four steals and almost won the game at the end of regulation when he attempted to tip-in Kerem Tunceri's runner.
Referees went to the scorer's table and looked at a video replay, determining that the buzzer sounded before the ball had left the superstar's hands.
In the overtime, Semih Erdin was fouled by Nemanja Bjelica and made one of two attempts at the free-throw line for a 65-64 advantage.
Serbia then went the entire extra period without scoring a point.
"I think my players were under a lot of pressure and that's the reason why we didn't score a point in overtime," Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic said. "The key to this defeat was that we made so many turnovers and had a very low field goal percentage.
"We had a big problem in trying to organize our offense against their zone, but we are definitely in the Quarter-Finals and it's a big success for us.
"Now we just have to do well and prepare for the next game (against Lithuania)."
Ilyasova was elated with the victory that has left Turkey on top in Qualifying Round Group F.
"It was important for us to win this game, having gone into the game with four wins in a row," Ilyasova said.
"Had we lost this game, those wins wouldn't have made a difference."
When asked about his own performance, Ilyasova said: "I wanted to give everything for the team. We gave all that we had in the last five minutes and fortunately we got the win."
The first half was a nip-and-tuck affair with 12 lead changes.
Ilyasova, who drilled two of his four three-pointers before the break, led all scorers with 12 points at half-time with Turkey leading 36-33.
One of his three-balls gave Tanjevic's side their biggest lead of the game at 50-42 with 3:06 to go in the third quarter, only for a Milos Teodosic three-ball to leave Serbia trailing 55-52 at the end of the frame.
The fourth quarter remained tight until the end.
With the contest knotted at 64-64 after Erdin made one of two free-throws with 28 seconds to play, Serbia had a chance to take the lead.
But with the shot clock down to just two seconds, Nenad Krstic passed up a shot in the lane and found Bjelica in the right corner in front of the Turkey bench.
Bjelica failed to release his attempt from long range in time.
Both sides then burned timeouts and when play resumed, Turkey's Kerem Tunceri inbounded the ball to star guard Ender Arslan, who then split the defense by passing ahead to Tunceri.
He streaked in for a lay-up but his shot ended up glancing off the rim.
Turkoglu tapped the ball in but referees, after looking at a video replay, decided it had left his hand too late.
Once in overtime, Turkey won the game.
Teodosic had 16 points, eight assists and six rebounds for Serbia, who also got 12 points, including 11 in the second half, and seven boards from Novica Velickovic.
Krstic, who didn't start and came off the bench at the beginning of the second quarter, finished with 11 points and seven boards.
Omer Asik had 11 points but was not very good at the free-throw line, missing 10 of his 11 attempts.
Serbia were 23 of 27 (85%) at the stripe.
Game Summary
Turning Point: With the game tied at 29-29 late in the second quarter, Slovenia went on a 20-3 run over the next nine minutes to pull away.
Hero: Slovenia center Erazem Lorbek had 10 points in that crucial run and finished with a game-high 20 points. Lorbek also pulled down nine rebounds and dished out five assists while blocking one shot.
Key Stats: Slovenia finished 19 of 33 (58%) shooting from inside the arc while Poland were 15 of 39 (38%).
Slovenia forced Poland into making 15 turnovers.
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Slovenia broke open a close game in the third quarter and stormed to a 76-60 triumph over Poland to clinch a spot in the EuroBasket Quarter-Finals on Monday night in Lodz.
Erazem Lorbek scored a game-high 20 points and also pulled down nine rebounds for the winners, who prevailed for the fourth time in five games at this year's event.
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| Jure Zdovc had led his troops into the Quarter-Finals. |
They went in front by as many as 20 points in the second half and cruised to victory.
"When we went into the break trailing by two points, I knew it was going to be very difficult for us," admitted Poland coach Muli Katzurin.
"In the second half we had a bad shooting percentage and we made many turnovers and against a quality team like Slovenia, they make you pay for your mistakes."
Slovenia have faced a lot of adversity this year with numerous players unable to take part due to injury-related problems, including guards NBA guards Beno Udrih and Sasha Vujacic and Lottomatica Roma's Sani Becirovic.
Matjaz Smodis, the captain of the national team, has also been unable to compete because of a back injury and star guard Goran Dragic also missed the Poland game with a knee injury.
Yet Zdovc's team hasn't missed a beat with their only loss an overtime defeat to Spain in Group C.
"I need to congratulate my players," said Slovenia coach Jure Zdovc. "We have struggled with injuries but those players that have gone on the court have given everything they have. We deserved this win."
Poland started well with a 7-0 run giving them an 8-4 advantage and they had a 17-11 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Slovenia struck back with an 8-0 spurt in the second quarter putting them on top at 19-17.
Five consecutive points by Goran Jagodnik, including a three-ball, and a basket by Uros Slokar increased the lead to 29-22 with 3:14 to go in the first half.
Poland reeled off seven straight points and knotted the game at 29-29 on a lay-up from Szymon Szewczyk before Slovenia took command.
David Logan and Szymon Szewczyk had 15 points apiece for Poland.
Slovenia will now go into their final Qualifying Round Group F game against Turkey safe gunning for first place.
Spain Send Lithuania Packing
Game Summary
Turning point: Despite going scoreless for the first 7:06 of the second quarter - during which time they conceded a 23-0 run - Lithuania only trailed by eight at half time. They used a 7-2 run after the break to get within 42-37, but Spain then reeled off 22 of the last 28 points the rest of that period to lead 64-43 and never looked back.
Hero: Several candidates for Spain. Pau Gasol stepped up his play and was impressive at both ends of the court during the pivotal second and third quarter runs. Jorge Garbajosa was reinserted in the starting line-up and proved the move to be a wise one as he knocked down some timely and fed Gasol for some easy baskets.
Stats: Lithuania had 21 fouls and 19 turnovers and were just six of 23 from three-point range.
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Spain recovered from a slow start to cruise past Lithuania 84-70 in Group F of the EuroBasket 2009 Qualifying Round.
The win saw the world champions improve to 2-2 and boosted their chances of reaching the last eight of the competition. Meanwhile, Lithuania dropped to 0-4 and are assured of missing out on the Quarter-Final stages for the first time since 2001.
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| Lithuania were missing Simas Jasaitis who missed the game due to injury. |
"I think it was an excellent game from our team. One main issue was that we recovered our physical condition and we played the game the way we like to - by running and being aggressive," he said.
"We are just one step closer to where we want to get. It's a very important step, a consistent one.
And Scariola praised star player Pau Gasol for his performance, as he finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
" Pau was very important defensively for us. He made one big step forward in terms of intensity and aggressiveness. The team took advantage of this."
Spain used a 23-0 run in the second quarter to turn a 24-15 deficit into a 38-24 advantage and they held off several runs by their opponents the rest of the way to secure a vital win.
The Spaniards were helped by the fact that Lithuania, playing without the injured Simas Jasaitis, lost their shooting touch altogether.
The Lithuanians failed to score a single point for the first 7:04 of the second period, missing their first 11 shot attempts before Linas Kleiza ended the drought with a corner three-pointer. He and Marijonas Petravicius accounted for eight points in the last three minutes of the half to cut the deficit to 40-32.
Spain's impressive run started when Rudy Fernandez buried a three-pointer and, after a problem with the shot clock on Lithuania's basket - the second such instance in the first half - Spain seemed to click all of a sudden.
Once the technical problem was solved, Ricky Rubio fed the trailing Pau Gasol for a thunderous dunk. The Los Angeles Lakers All Star then scored inside again while getting fouled. He failed to convert the three-point play but Felipe Reyes got the offensive rebound and tied the game at 24 with 6:31 left.
Spain applied some full-court press defense to great effect as Lithuania had trouble inbounding the ball and getting it past the midcourt line.
Fernandez hit a pair of free-throws, Navarro got a steal and found Garbajosa for a long bomb and a 29-24 lead. Gasol capped off the run with a dunk after Garbajosa timed his lob pass perfectly for a 38-24 advantage.
The Lithuanians did not give up and a 7-2 spurt got them within 42-37 early in the third quarter on Kleiza's fastbreak dunk. Spain though responded in fine fashion, accounting for 22 of the last 28 points of that period and a 64-43 advantage.
Rubio sliced through the defense for a lay-up and free-throw and Fernandez came off a pick and lobbed the ball for Gasol to dunk it. The big man had another dunk when he worked the pick and roll to perfection with Rubio to go up 49-37.
Lithuania were within 10 the next trip down the court when Robertas Javtokas had a big dunk of his own. That would be as close as they would get the rest of the way.
Early on, Lithuania used a 17-6 run to take their 24-15 first quarter lead. Butautas' side made six of nine attempts from two-point range and three of six from beyond the arc in the first quarter.
Spain, after a reasonable start, went through a long drought. They failed to make a basket for more than 6:20. Navarro buried a corner three with 7:16 to edge in front 9-7 but they then had to wait until Marc Gasol scored inside in the final minute of the period to end that rough patch.
Butautas was satisfied with his team's play early on but once again was disappointed to see them fade away.
"We controlled the game only in the first quarter but it was another bad performance from us. We weren't aggressive and our pressing was terrible. We have one more game (against Serbia on Wednesday) and I hope that my players will give a better performance."
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