Karasev Leads Triumph Past Edirne

Sergey Karasev erupted for a season-high 21 points as Triumph Lyubertsy beat Olin Edirne in the EuroChallenge on Tuesday.

A player at the U18 All-Star Game at the EuroBasket, Karasev made seven of his eight shots from the floor to help fire the Russian team to a 70-61 win.

Triumph won for the third time in as many Group F encounters and dropped their Turkish opponents to 0-3.

Edirne, fresh off their upset of Besiktas in the BEKO Basketbol Ligi, hit 11 of their 23 shots from the arc but just 23 of 56 from the floor overall.

The visitors led by six early in the game and were knotted at 22-22 midway through the second quarter.

Karasev went to the free-throw line with 3:57 to play in the second quarter and made both attempts for his first two points of the contest.

Kyle Landry followed with a jumper to stretch the lead to four.

After 24-year-old Serbian center Vladimir Stimac replied with a basket for Edirne, Karasev went to the other end and connected from the arc.

Karasev ended up scoring nine points in the frame and Triumph went to half-time in front, 34-28.

A jumper by Landry after the restart and then back-to-back jump shots from Karasev stretched the advantage to 40-28.

The hosts went in front by 16 in the third quarter.

Edirne managed to reduce the deficit to 56-51 with 6:28 to play, but Tywain McKee followed with four straight points for Triumph as they stayed comfortably ahead.

Stimac finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in defeat for Edirne, who will be looking to win their remaining three games in Group F to have a chance of progressing to the next phase of the competition.

Quotes Triumph Lyubertsy vs. Olin Edirne

BC Triumph Head Coach Valdemaras Chomicius:
"First of all I want to thanks all our fans, they supported our team well , they were like a 6th player on the court. I'm satisfied with the game today, we played good defense, but we started badly - Olin shot two treys and it was unusual, because Olin plays inside. But tonight they were good from outside. But we withstood their offense, then developed our own offense systems and were successful."

BC Triumph player Sergey Karasev:
"Many thanks to our fans for the great atmosphere today. Olin started to lead from the beginning, they played aggressively, but we found our rhythm and won the game."

Olin Edirne Head Coach Gokhan Tastimur:
"I'm satisfied with the game of the team, because we came to Russia without two injured players, and we really missed them. So my young inexperienced players fought till the end, but then we made some mistakes. About the treys - we make them usually, it's part of our tactics. In the last 5 minutes we failed in two fast breaks and those moments were very important."

Olin Edirne center Vladimir Stimac:
"I played in Lithuania for a few years, so I know Chomicius as a great coach and today we lost to his good team. Triumph is a very fast, talented team, good in transitions and shots. And there is a strange tradition - when I have a very good game, my team is losing. Anyway we have the team tactics - play inside, and my teammates try to give the ball to me. I'm sure we have good chances to qualify to Last 16, but in this period of time we are concentrated on the national league. I know we can play better, and we will."