Eurobasket 07 - Czech vs Turkey 05/09

Duration: 03:18 minutes Upload Time: 07-09-07 03:14:49 User: monuow :::: Favorites :::: Top Videos of Day

Description: 05 September 2007 Turkey Score Vital Win NBA stars Mehmet Okur and Hidayet Turkoglu and captain Ibrahim Kutluay combined for 55 points as Turkey remained alive at the 2007 EuroBasket with an 80-72 victory over the Czech Republic, advancing to the qualifying round in Madrid and sending the Czechs home. FIBA Europe / Castoria / Tilo Wiedensohler Turkoglu's team-high 22 points helped Turkey to the next round Okur had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, Turkoglu poured in 22 points and Kutluay added 17 as the Turks collected their first victory in Group C after suffering blowouts of 17 and 30 points to Lithuania and Germany, respectively. "I'm satisfied to see my team play and show its real face," said Turkish coach Bogdan Tanjevic. And guard Ender Arslan added: "We didn't start this tournament very good and were down before the game. But we talked and we said we are a good team and that we can beat any team in this tournament. We just had to start with this game tonight." The Czechs, who lost their third straight contest, were led by 22 points from Lubos Barton and Petr Benda added 14 points in a losing effort. Jiri Welsch was clearly tired from the first two games and struggled mightly, scoring just five points on two for 11 shooting. "Today we played very bad, especially our best players. They were very, very tired, especially Welsch, Barton and Benda. I am not satisified with our performance here because we wanted to go to Madrid," said coach Zdenek Hummel, who led the Czechs back to the EuroBasket for the first time since 1999. Turkey started on fire with a 15-2 lead and led 28-15 after one period with Okur and Turkoglu combining for 16 points. The Czechs raced back thanks to within three thanks to a 13-3 run - 31-28. But the Turks turned up their defense, holding Czech Republic scoreless for 5:20 to use a 15-0 spurt to pull ahead 46-31 at the break. The lead was still 57-43 in the third before Lukas Kraus and Barton nailed back-to-back three-pointers to trim the margin to eight - 57-49. But Turkoglu re-established the 10-point margin - 59-49 -- going into the fourth. Trailing 64-51, the Czechs remained close and Stepan Vrubl's three-pointer finished a 7-0 run to move within six points. But Jiri Welsch missed two foul shots and Okur converted a four-point play for a 10-point lead again with four minutes left. Despite shooting just 58% from the foul stripe for the game - Turkey secured their victory by making 11 of their final 15 free-throws down the stretch. "We knew we could win this game and go to the next round. And we won because we fought more and had more hustle than we did in the first two games," added Kutluay. Turkey advance to the qualifying round in Madrid along with Lithuania and Germany. Play begins on Thursday.