 A week after losing its debut at the buzzer on the road, Banca Tercas Teramo treated the home fans to their first Eurocup victory ever with a feisty and entertaining 95-87 decision over visiting Galatasaray Cafe Crown. Both teams are now 1-1 and tied for second place in Group A behind undefeated Alba Berlin. Teramo led almost the entire game, save for a couple minutes in the second quarter, but still had to withstand a Galatasaray rally to within 4 points in the final minute. The winners put five scorers in double figures, led by Bobby Jones, with 21 points. Valerio Amoroso follwed with 14, Goran Jurak with 13, while Jesse Young and Giuseppe Poeta added 11 each. Three different Teramo players - Poeta, Drake Diener and Ryan Hoover - had 5 assists each. Galatasaray had a pair of go-to scorers in Mike Wilkinson, who finished with 25 points, and Duane Washington, who had 23. Combined, they made 20 of 24 two-point shots. Rado Rancik added 17 points, Simas Jasaitis 11 and 9 rebounds for Galatasaray.
Jones and Amoroso hit Teramo's first shots, both from downtown, while Wilkinson and Washington countered with layups for Galatasaray at 8-4. Poeta rand Jones then teamed up for three-point plays the hard way - with baskets and free throws - to suddenly claim a double-digit lead, 14-4, for Teramo. Rancik joined Wilkinson and Washington scoring inside for Galatasaray, but soon Amoroso blasted from deep again as the hosts went up 21-12 after just 5 minutes. Evren Buker soon answered with Galatasaray's first triple, however, and by the time Mike Wilkinson scored 5 straight points and Jasaitis rained another shot from long range, the visitors had tied 25-25 at the end of 10 minutes. Galatasaray's first lead of the game came on a triple to open the second quarter by Fikret Can Akin. Teramo soon retook the lead, 32-30, as Ryan Hoover popped from long-distance, and stayed a basket or two ahead of the visitors for awhile. When Tommaso Marino's triple boosted the hosts to a 46-39 advantage, Galatasaray reacted with the next 6 points, shared again by Wilkinson and Washington, before a dunk by Jones finished the half with Teramo still ahead 48-45.
 Washington's driving layup after the break cut the difference to a single point, 48-47, but Diener buried a triple in response and Jones worked to keep Teramo ahead. Amoroso's next shot from the arc made it 58-51, and by the time Jones raised up in the middle of the quarter and buried his own three-pointer, Teramo had expanded its lead to double-digits, 65-55. Galatasaray turned to its inside-out due of Rancik and Jasaitis, who scored all the visitors' points in a 6-10 run that cut the difference to 71-65, although another three-pointer by Hoover left Teramo comfortably ahead, 74-67, after 30 minutes. When Marino's long-range bomb early in the final quarter made it 77-69, Galatasaray looked to be in trouble. When Jones made it 86-76 after 36 minutes, Teramo looked on its way to the victory. Washington, Wilkinson and Rancik responded with a quick 5 points and Galatasaray's defense held Teramo scoreless for 2 minutes. Then Amoroso hit 3 free throws and a layup to restore the margin at 91-81. Wilkinson and Washington would not die, however, scoring the next 6 points to make it 91-87 early in the final minute. But this time, Galatasaray ran out of time as Jones and Poeta hit their free throws and the Teramo fans enjoyed their team's first-ever win in the Eurocup!
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Eurocupbasketball.com
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