 In an absolute thriller for survival in Group K, one basket in the final seconds was answered by another as host Galatasaray Cafe Crown stunned CEZ Nymburk with a 76-75 victory in Istanbul on Tuesday. Right after Afik Nissim's layup had put the Czech visitors ahead with seconds to go, Joshua Shipp raced the other way and downed the game's final shot to save his team's season. The victory gave Galatasaray a 1-2 record for third place in Group K. Nymburk, a group winner in the regular season, fell to 0-3 despite having led much of the game, including by 48-59 on the first shot of the final quarter. After that, Preston Shumpert and Tutku Acik buried 4 three-pointers to rally Galatasaray for the shock finish. Shipp led the winners with 17 points, while Shumpert added 14, Evren Buker 12 and Acik 10, all of his in the final quarter. Nymburk got 22 points from Tre Simmons, 14 from Pavel Pumprla, 13 from Nissim and 10 from Radek Necas, but will now need a miracle to advance.
Luksa Andric and Shipp combined on 6 quick points before teenage guard Huseyin Koksal, a surprise starter who had played only 9 minutes all season, had a steal and basket to make it 8-2 for Galatasaray. Just as quickly, Nymburk tied with 6 points between Pumprla, Simmons and Petr Benda. The second basket by Necas gave the visitors a first lead that they stretched to 14-17 as he and Simmons scored again and Benda dishes his fourth assist already before the first quarter ended. Ermal Kuqo and Buker, with a triple, tied quickly for Galatasaray, 19-19, to open the second quarter. Dueling baskets by Buker and Simmons kept it tied before Rado Rancik took back the lead for the hosts, 25-23. It didn't last. Ladislav Sokolovsky buried the first of his 2 three-pointers in a minute, sandwiched around a two-pointer by Nissim, who then fired from the arc himself, putting Nymburk suddenly in charge at 25-34. The shocking 0-13 blast ended with a layup by Pumprla, but the Nymburk defense continued stopping Galatasaray until Andric, Preston Shumpert and Jerry Johnson combined on 8 points near the end of the half, not enough to avoid Nymburk reaching the break ahead by 32-40.
Simmons returned Nymburk's lead to double digits, 32-42, with a basket to start the third quarter. Necas added 4 free throws to make it 34-46 as the visitors' defense held Galatasaray to a pair of foul shots during 4 minutes. Shipp and Haluk Yildirim finally broke Galatasaray's silence, but Nissim and Pumprla preserved a 40-50 advantage through 25 minutes for Nymburk. Buker returned for the hosts and Shumpert scored again to lower the difference to single digits, 48-56, after 30 minutes. An almost three-minute scoreless standoff bridging the third and fourth quarters ended with Simmons and Tutku Acik firing dueling three-pointers to make it 51-59. Acik's shot, and a layup to follow it, rallied Galatasaray. Shipp and Shumpert came next with 6 points to suddenly tie it up, 59-59, with under 6 minutes left. Baskets by Simmons and Shipp preserved the tie at 61-61 as both teams looked for an answer man. Simmons continued to be Nymburk's by hitting a huge layup-plus-free throw to make it 61-64. For Galatasaray, it was Shumpert, who now tied with a triple before Simmons scored again. When Buker tied for Galatasaray and Benda answered for Nymburk, there came Shumpert again, putting the hosts in front 69-68 from downtown heading into the final minute. No sooner had that happened than Pumprla stepped up for Nymburk, taking a pass from Necas for a layup and making the accompanying free throw at 69-71. After a Galatasaray timeout, Acik came right back and tied it up, 71-71. Now Nymburk stopped the clock, but a turnover let Acik put Galatasaray ahead at the foul line. Nissim made only 1 of 2 free throws, missing a change to tie, but Acik did the same. Then, in a matter of seconds, Nissim scored a layup that seemed to give Nymburk the victory before Shipp used the game’s final shot to save the season for Galatasaray!
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Eurocupbasketball.com
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