 Turk Telekom showed its great pride by rallying from early deficits to post a big 84-94 road win at CEZ Nymburk on Tuesday despite the fact that the two teams leave Group L headed in opposite directions. Even with the home loss, Nymburk finished 3-3 and goes to the Quarterfinals from second place due to a tie-break advantage over Crvena Zvezda. Turk Telekom improved to 2-4, but was already out of the Quarterfinals race before the game started. Bekir Yurungame starred for the visitors by hitting 6 of 9 three-point shots, including 3 crucial ones in the final quarter, to finish with 22 points. Demond Mallet added 14 points for the winners, all in the last 11 minutes, while Lamayne Wilson scored 13 and Soner Senturk 11. Nymburk got 22 points from Arthur Lee, 17 from Ronald Lewis and 12 from Petr Benda, but could not keep up with Turk Telekom's scorers down the stretch. Nymburk now meets Group K winner Bizkaia Bilbao Basket in the two-game semifinals, with the first game at home in the Czech Republic.
Although Radek Necas opened the scoring for the hosts, Turk Telekom took the initiative with back-to-back triples by Wilson and Umit Sonkol at 2-7. When Tutku Acik joined the three-point parade, the guests were up 6-12, before another basket by Necas sparked Nymburk. Lewis dunked and Lee followed his first triple for the hosts with a three-point play the hard way, good for a 16-14 lead. Lewis from downtown and Benda closer quickly added 5 points to the Nymburk advantage. A subsequent three-point play by Lewis supplied the biggest lead yet before Erwin Dudley's second basket in a row cut the difference to 24-18 after 10 minutes. Lee and Lewis kept attacking from long-distance as Nymburk's lead widened to double-digits, 32-22, early in the second quarter. Turk Telekom wasn't done yet, though. Bekir Yarangume launched a triple that inspired the guests. He, Dudley and Wilson proceeded to fill a 5-15 run that ended with the latter burying another shot from downtown that tied the score 37-37. That got Nymburk's attention as Benda, Lee and Mike Lenzly inched the hosts ahead but Soner Senturk added 4 points of his own for Turk Telekom to assure a close scoreboard, 43-41, after 20 minutes.
Dudley kept Turk Telekom's comeback going to open the third quarter while Yarangume from long range and Dudley at the foul line completed it with the guests seizing a 45-48 advantage. Lenzly's three point play tied it up again for Nymburk, while Phil Ricci's first points, 3 free throws, put the hosts ahead 51-49. Turk Telekom wouldn't back down, however, and kept surging a step ahead of Nymburk behind points from Senturk, Acik and Yarangume. Wilson's three-pointer opened a 57-61 lead for Turk Telekom, but Lee's free throws soon got the hosts within 64-66. Before the third quarter could end, however, Demond Mallet hit his first 5 points to take Turk Telekom up 64-71 after 30 minutes. Mallet kept pushing the guests to a 68-75 difference in the final quarter before Lee boosted Nymburk with a triple. That was matched, however, by Yarangume, who outdid himself with another triple 2 minutes later, after Pavel Pumprla had pulled Nymburk as close as 77-78. This time Ladislav Sokolovsky came up big for the hosts, shooting from downtown at 80-81, but Mallet took over for the guests then with 5 points in a row before Yarangume boomed yet another triple to take all fight from Nymburk and let Turk Telecom finish the season with pride.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Eurocupbasketball.com
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