Another great display by Turkey NT which remains unbeaten and has progressed to the quarter-finals where they will be facing Slovenia.
Turkey is literally unstoppable in this tournament. With bone-crushing defence, both in the perimeter and in the paint, Turkey strangles their opponents and doesn’t let go until the last second of the game. This time France were their victims, losing 95-77 in a score that flatters the French team more than anything.
Both teams looked rather nervous in the beginning of the game but Turkey managed to lead 5-0. With two baskets behind the arc France took the lead 6-5. France found solutions against the zone defence of Turkey while the hosts kept missing their free throws and the game was a close one, until the last minutes where Turkey did a quick run to finish the quarter at the lead, 19-14.
France was the one to score the first bucket of the second quarter but Turkey responded with a 4-0 to take a seven points lead. Then Arslan took the lead to double digits, for the first time, with another trademark long threepointer. Tanjevic adjusted his zone defence and France could not find solutions for several possessions until they made a 4-0 run, but thanks to Turkoglu Turkey took the game right up to +11 for the hosts. Then again Arslan hit with yet another shot behind the arc and the half time ended with Turkey being in front 43-28.
In the third quarter Turkoglu was on fire and with two back-to-back threepointers too the lead to +21! Turkey kept playing without an opponent and expanded their run to 10-0 to take a 25 points lead at some point. From then on the difference fluctuated between 23-27 points with Asik having a party under both rims. All in all Turkey closed the third quarter leading 71-45.
France tried to reduce the gap and managed to make a quick 4-0 run. Of course they gave up quickly and Turkey pulled the difference up to +28 points. France found some solutions from the long range and both teams kept shooting from the perimeter and the difference fell down to 22 points. France managed to make the score 92-74 with one minute to go and the final score was 95-77.
Score by quarters: 19-14, 43-28, 71-45, 95-77
Turkey: Turkoglu 20, Guler 17, Asik 10, Ilyasova 9, Savas 9 (3 to), Arslan 9, Onan 7, Akyol 5, Erden 5, Ermis 2, Gonlum 2, Tunceri (3 stl)
France: Diaw 21 (4 ass, 4 to, 2 stl), De Colo 15 (4 to), Batum 11, Pietrus 6 (4 ass), Koffi 5, Bokolo 4, Traore 4, Albicy 3, Causeur 3, Gelabale 3, Mahinmi 2, Jackson
