Turkey stepped on the gas in the second quarter and never looked back as they beat Bulgaria in the second day of Group D.
Turkey entered the second quarter with a 9-point lead (24-15) when they had a 13-2 run to go to the locker rooms being up by 25 (53-28). Ersan Ilyasova was the dominant man for Turkey, having 16 points and 7 rebounds in the first half. Ender Arslan picked up where Ilyasova left and led the Turks with 17 points and 5/7 three-pointers. The Bulgarians were unable to get back in the game which brought the final score to 66-94 for the Turkish side.
BULGARIA 66-94 TURKEY
Bulgaria: D.Ivanov 2, K.Ivanov 4, Kostov 3, Rowland 15, Videnov 14, Slaveykov, Georgiev 4, Angelov 5, Evtimov 3, Mladenov 4, Avramov, Stoykov 12
Turkey: Yarangume 7, Guler 14, Atsur, Onan, Ilyasova 16, Erden 2, Tunceri 3, Savas 10, Asik 10, Arslan 17, Hersek 7, Turkoglu 8
Game quotes:
Sinan Guler: "We are happy that today's game was easy for us because tomorrow we have big game against the home team. We cannot expect anything but a really a hard game against Poland. They are playing good basketball, but we will try to play better than them. We played against Poland a couple of weeks ago, and we aren't scared at all to play against such a good team."
Orhun Ene, Turkey Assistant Coach: "We expected more from this game. The next game is important for us because points from this round count in second round."
Stefan Georgiev: "That wasn't an important game for us. The big game is tomorrow, when we play against Lithuania."
Pini Gershon, Bulgaria Coach: "If Bulgaria had one player who plays in Eurocup, not even Euroleague, not even NBA, but Eurocup, this team could make a difference. Professional basketball is not to play one or two good games, it's a way of life. You have to give up everything, and that's something that some of our players don't have."
