Friday 13 July 2007

Quick Start Leads Turkey to big win over Canada

6'7' Can Ozcan and 6'6" Ogun Sevinc (15 points apiece) led an outslaught from downtown as Turkey built first half leads as large as 18 and coasted from there for a 81-58 victory over Canada (1-1) on the second day of the FIBA U19 World Championships in Serbia. Canada was plagued by poor shooting including a 1-10 start from beyond the arc in the first half plus 11 first-half turnovers and simply could not find their way back in the second half. 6'1" guard Dogus Balbay, headed to Texas, added 5 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists, many breaking Canadian runs, for Turkey (1-1). 6'2" Devoe Joseph, yesterday's hero with 33 points in the opener against Nigeria, scored his first two points of the game on a pair of free throws with under 2 minutes to play in the first half and finished with just 8 points in the game.

With Canada leading 4-2 early, Ozecan's long 3 started the Turkish side on a 16-3 run, allowing Turkey to grab a 23-11 lead after one quarter. (Teams play 4 10 minutes quarters in FIBA basketball). Canada started to settle for 3's that wouldn't fall, allowing easy transition and open looks for Turkey and when Ozecan made a transition lay-up, Turkey led 36-18. Canada's Boris Bakovic then delivered a personal 5-0 run part of his team-high 10 first-half points to bring the Canadians back to within 14 at 37-23 but that was as close as Canada would get as Turkey finished the half on a 5-1 including a late dunk by Sevinc in transition. Turkey put the game away for all intents and purposes with an 8-0 run off the start of the second half, capped by Ozecan's third 3 of the game off the 8th assist by the creative Balbay to lead 52-26 with only 6 minutes gone in the third quarter. Bakovic led Canada with a 14-point/10-rebound double-double, while Corey Joseph knocked down a pair of threes as part of his 8 point effort, including 5 straight third-quarter points which broke an 8-0 Turkey run. Canada apparently had some confusion at the beginning of the game as stats show that both Devoe Joseph and Scott Brittain, two usual starters, were replaced in the starting lineup by Keaton Cole and Maurice Walker, only to be substituted in at the first whistle in the first minute. Canada looks to bounce back tomorrow against one of the top junior teams in the world in Australia.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Better fly Olu and Junior in to Serbia or it will be another loss tomorrow. Maybe a 30+ point loss for Canada tomorrow.