Turkey Stop Hosts In Wroclaw

Game Summary

Turning Point: Turkey led 56-50 midway through the third quarter and went on a 24-7 run over the next 10 minutes en route to a convincing victory.

Hero: Turkish center Omer Asik scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in that crucial surge.  He finished 10 of 11 (91% ) shooting  from the floor.
 
Key Stat: Turkey were an impressive 14 of 19 (74%) from inside the arc at the break and finished 26 of 36 (72%).
Poland were out-rebounded 39-26.

--------------------------------------------------------

Turkey stunned tournament hosts Poland 87-69 to finish top of Group D in Wroclaw.

Omar Asik poured in a game-high 22 points to fire Turkey to the Qualifying Round in Lodtz with a perfect record (3-0).

Turkey also got big contributions from Ersan Ilyasova (18pts) and Hedo Turkoglu (10).

There was little the Poles could do to avoid their first defeat of the tournament with Bogdan Tanjevic's side shooting an impressive 26 of 36 (72%) from inside the arc and out-rebounding their opponents 39-26.

"Turkey were just superior," said Poland coach Muli Katzurin. "They played better than us and they deserved the win.

"We must put this defeat behind us.

"We now have two days to rest to prepare for the Qualifying Round."

A raucous crowd of 7,000 fans at the Centennial Hall yelled from start to finish.

But it was Turkey that dominated the early stages and stormed to a 45-28 lead after 19 minutes played.

The Poles got back in the game scoring eight unanswered points en route to a 22-9 run that bridged the second and third quarters to cut the deficit 56-50 with five minutes to go in the stanza.

Bogdan Tanjevic's side pressed the accelerator and outscored their opponents 24-7 over the next 10 minutes en route to an emphatic victory.

"We knew it was going to be a difficult game," said Turkey guard Ender Arslan, who finished with 10 points. "Poland never give up and we had to battle hard in the second half to clinch the victory.

"But the key to our success so far has been our defense and today we played great defense."

"We are 3-0 and it may be a surprise to some but it's not a surprise to us."

Asik scored 10 points in that crucial run and finished 10 of 11 (91%) shooting  from the floor.

Marcin Gortat led Poland in scoring with 21 points.

Quotes Poland vs. Turkey

Muli Katzurin, Poland Coach:

It wasn't our best game both in terms of defence and offense. We let our opponents shoot with 72% efficiency. The Turkish team was much better at point guard position. Today it was crucial. We scored only four points from fastbreaks, and this element of the game was our great weapon so far."

Krzysztof Szubarga, Poland:

"It was our worst game. We had huge problems in defence, we didn't execute open shots. We lost because of weak defense."

Nihat Izic, Turkey Coach:

"Omer made an incredible job against Logan. We played our game, we tried to play an inside-outside game. We didn`t know that basketball in Poland is so popular. I`m really surprised."

Omer Onan, Turkey:

"The last two days I felt bad, I had a fever, almost 40 degrees. Today I was to play 10 minutes maximum. However during the warm-up I told the coach that I felt good and I can play for more minutes. I had to stop David Logan, that was my main goal. In order to do it I used All my energy. We planned to stop Logan and not let him score more than 10 points. We did it."