Turkish League, Regular Season, Game 23: March 7-9, 2008
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Besiktas ColaTurka strengthened its grip on first place in the Turkish League by seeing off Galatasaray Cafe Crown on the road 66-83. Besiktas improved to 18-5 and bumped Galatasaray into a four-way tie for third place with Fenerbahce Ulker, Turk Telekom and Antalya Buyuksehir Belediyesi, all at 15-8. Preston Shumpert scored 20 and Rick Apodaca 15 to lead Besiktas, which avenged a 15-point loss to Galatasaray earlier this season. Efes Pilsen now has a two-game lead over the rest for second place after dumping Banvit 83-61 as Ender Arslan led the way with 19 points plus 5 assists and Ermal Kuqo posted 15 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Andre Woolridge scored 24 as Oyak Renault upset Antalya Buyuksehir Belediyesi 77-76, preventing the visitors from moving ahead of the pack for third place. Fenerbahce outclassed Mersin Buyuksehir Belediyesi 83-55 as 11 different players scored for the defending champs. Meanwhile Turk Telekom suffered its fourth loss in its last five matches against city rivals CASA TED Kolejliler of Ankara, 71-73 in Ataturk Arena. In other games, Darussafaka got 27 from Eric Chatfield to down Kepez Belediyesi 87-92, Kevin Braswell posted 29 and Warren Carter had 23 points and 13 boards as Mutlu Aku Selcuk University bested Alpella 82-76 and TT Net Beykoz defeated Pinar Karsiyaka 97-89 behind 26 points and 14 boards from Chris Burgess.
Besiktas ColaTurka strengthened its grip on first place in the Turkish League by seeing off Galatasaray Cafe Crown on the road 66-83. Galatasaray, which downed Besiktas 80-75 in the first half of the season at Akatlar Cola Turka Arena, was without the injured Huseyin Besok and Dee Brown. Despite having trouble inside against the deep Besiktas rotation of Predrag Drobnjak, Kaya Peker, Sandro Nicevic and Cevher Ozer, Galatasaray stood tall for most of the first three quarters thanks to Charles Gaines. Drobnjak and Peker in the first quarter helped the visitors to a 12-16 lead, but triples from Tufan Ersoz helped Galatasaray tie the game at 18-18 after 10 minutes. In the first five minutes of the second quarter, both sides struggled to score against the other’s tough defence. Preston Shumpert made the differance for Besiktas to take a 36-38 lead at halftime. Sinan Guler joined Shumpert in the third quarter and Besiktas took control of the game after couple of Galatasaray turnovers. A Nicevic layup at midway through the third period made it 44-50 and Shumpert and Rick Apodaca teamed up on offense to put Besiktas ahead 45-61. Gaines and Britton Johnsen tried to reduce the gap, but Apodaca, Shumpert and Guler extended the visitors' lead to 20 points with a minute to go as Besiktas won in style. Shumpert finished with 20 points, Apodaca had 15, Guler 13 and Christian Dalmau added 11 for Besiktas. Gaines had 24 points plus 12 rebounds for Galatasaray.
Efes Pilsen trashed Banvit of Bandirma 83-61 at the Abdi Ipekci Arena on Sunday and remained one win behind Besiktas with a 17-6 record. The Istanbul side struggled early on, but after an Ermal Quqo basket and a triple from Mustafa Abi for a 5-1 spurt to finish the first period, took a 17-13 lead that it never relinquished. It was a thunderous second period for Efes as Kenny Gregory, Abi and Ender Arslan drilled three-pointers en route to a 46-26 halftime lead. Efes increased the lead to 26 points and went into the last quarter up 67-43. Banvit tried zone pressure in the fourth quarter, but it was only enough to end the game down 22. Arslan led Efes with 19 points plus 5 assists, Gregory had 17 points and 5 rebounds, Kuqo posted 15 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists and Abi finished with 13 points. Kenny Adeleke had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Joseph Crispin scored 13 for Banvit.
Fenerbahce outclassed Mersin Buyuksehir Belediyesi 83-55. The defending champs started strong with Gasper Vidmar and Tarence Kinsey in charge and led 25-13 after 10 minutes. Omer Onan and Emir Preldzic joined the race as Fenerbahce increased its lead to 18 points by halftime. Polat Kocaoglu and Reha Oz tried to keep Mersin in the game, but a 19-10 third quarter helped the home team to go into the last period up 67-40 ahead, securing the outcome early. Vidmar and Onan finished with 12 each and Kinsey added 11 as 11 players of Fener's 12 roster players scored. Oz had 14 and Umit Turkoglu added 12 for Mersin.
Turk Telekom suffered its fourth loss in its last five matches against city rivals CASA TED Kolejliler of Ankara, 71-73 in Ataturk Arena. After an even opening period that ended 17-17, Kris Lang and Erwin Dudley helped the hosts take a narrow 35-33 halftime lead. But the absence of Chris Williams was felt in the third quarter as Kolejliler had Thomas Dearman and Erek Hansen performing well inside to go into the last period up 53-54 ahead. Khalid El-Amin and Haluk Yildirim did everything they could individually, but Antawn Dobie, Erek Hansen and Omer Unver didn’t let the opponent take over as Kolejliler sealed the surprising win. Dobie finished with 16 points plus 7 rebounds and 6 assists, Hansen added 13 points and 13 rebounds, Dearman scored 14 points and Unver 12 for Kolejliler. El-Amin netted 29 points, Dudley had 11 and Lang posted 10 points and 12 rebounds in defeat.
LAST GAME GAME 23
March 7-9, 2008 | | Day | Match | Result | | Mar. 7 | Galatasaray vs. Besiktas | 66-83 | | Mar. 9 | Mutlu Aku Selcuk vs. Alpella | 82-76 | | Mar. 8 | Kepez Bld. vs. Darussafaka | 87-92 | | Mar. 8 | Turk Telekom vs. CASA TED | 71-73 | | Mar. 8 | Oyak Renault vs. Antalya | 77-76 | | Mar. 8 | Fenerbahce Ulker vs. Mersin | 83-55 | | Mar. 8 | Efes Pilsen vs. Banvit | 83-61 | | Mar. 9 | TTNet Beykoz vs. Pinar | 97-89 |
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NEXT GAME GAME 24
March 15-16, 2008 | | Day | Match | | Mar. 15 | Darussafaka vs. FB Ulker | | Mar. 16 | Antalya vs. Efes Pilsen | | Mar. 15 | Mersin BSB. vs. TTNet | | Mar. 15 | Pinar vs. Turk Telekom | | Mar. 15 | Galatasaray C. C. vs.Kepez | | Mar. 16 | Alpella vs. Oyak Renault | | Mar. 15 | Besiktas C.Turka vs.Banvit | | Mar. 15 | CASA TED vs. Mutlu Aku |
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| STANDINGS | TG | W | L | P+ | P- | | 1 | Beşiktaş Cola Turka | 23 | 18 | 5 | 1903 | 1700 | | 2 | Efes Pilsen | 23 | 17 | 6 | 1898 | 1660 | | 3 | Antalya Bşb. | 23 | 15 | 8 | 1802 | 1778 | | 4 | Galatasaray Cafe Crown | 23 | 15 | 8 | 1757 | 1631 | | 5 | Fenerbahçe Ülker | 23 | 15 | 8 | 1846 | 1708 | | 6 | TÜRK Telekom | 23 | 15 | 8 | 2065 | 1861 | | 7 | Pinar Karşiyaka | 23 | 14 | 9 | 2013 | 1956 | | 8 | Kepez Belediye | 23 | 11 | 12 | 1775 | 1782 | | 9 | Mersin Büyükşehir Bld. | 23 | 9 | 14 | 1703 | 1800 | | 10 | Casa TED A. Kolejliler | 23 | 9 | 14 | 1760 | 1870 | | 11 | Banvit | 23 | 9 | 14 | 1839 | 1811 | | 12 | Mutlu Akü Selçuk Üniv. | 23 | 8 | 15 | 1800 | 1979 | | 13 | Alpella | 23 | 8 | 15 | 1667 | 1827 | | 14 | Oyak Renault | 23 | 8 | 15 | 1530 | 1666 | | 15 | TTNet Beykoz | 23 | 7 | 16 | 1728 | 1864 | | 16 | Darüşşafaka | 23 | 6 | 17 | 1669 | 1862 |
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Gökhan Türe, Istanbul
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