28.11.2006

Dudley, Acik Lead Turk Telekom To Narrow Victory

Erwin Dudley and Tutku Acik proved to be a mean one-two punch for Turk Telekom as the TBL side beat Greek high-fliers Panionios 82-75 in Group H of the EuroCup.

Dudley finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds and point guard Acik scored 16, dished out 10 assists and came up with three steals as the Turkish team hit the summit of Group G with their third triumph in four games.

Panionios dropped to 2-2 and are level on six points with Ural Great after their 93-79 victory over PBC CSKA Sofia.

Luca Pavicevic's team travelled to Turkey full of confidence after their 88-59 road mauling of Apollon Patras on Saturday, a result that left them firmly in the title race in fourth place but just one adrift of leaders Panathinaikos.

Their chances looked good on Tuesday after Dragan Dojcin's three-pointer gave them a 73-71 lead just past the midway point of the final quarter.

However, they were held to just two points the rest of the way.

		Dragan Dojcin

Turk Telekom pulled level at 73-73 after Acik stole the ball from Nikolaos Chatzis and  Alper Yilmaz finished off the sequence with a lay-up.

After a Dojcin miss for Panionios, the hosts went in front for good at the 2:13 mark on a Derrick Alston dunk although the contest wasn't decided until the final nine seconds.

When Dojcin was whistled for a charge with 1:59 remaining, Turk Telekom called timeout to discuss their end-of-game strategy.

A frantic ending to the clash ensued.

After play resumed, though, Haluk Yildirim handed the ball back to the visitors when his pass was picked off by Dojcin.

The Greeks weren't able to take advantage as Dojcin turned the ball back over to the hosts.

With 39 seconds to go, Yildirim missed a three-pointer but the Turkish side grabbed the offensive board.

Then with 19 seconds remaining, Acik went in for a lay-up and a 77-73 advantage.

Dudley fouled Kennedy Winston with nine seconds left and he cut the deficit to 77-75 with two shots from the stripe, but Acik restored the four-point lead from the free throw line.

Following another turnover, he finished proceedings with a three-ball for a seven-point margin of victory - the largest of the contest.

Turk Telekom did themselves a lot of good at the free throw line where they made 18 of 22 on the night, compared to just five of seven for the visitors.

Panionios did shoot the ball extremely well from long range, burying 10 of 18 attempts (55.6%).