Jerian Grant carried Turk Telekom to Trento triumph
Jerian Grant produced his finest game yet for Turk Telekom Ankara to lead the team to a 72-80 road win at Dolomiti Energia Trento on Tuesday. His 26 points were a personal best and his 10-for-10 free throw shooting was just 1 off the club record. And on this night, his team needed all of it.
Starting center Tyrique Jones came into the game second to Grant in PIR on the team – and seventh in the EuroCup – in average PIR with 18.4, was ejected in the second quarter and finished without any points in 10:12 minutes on the floor. The team’s leading scorer, Axel Boutielle, contributed 12 points, but did so with subpar shooting; he made 2 of 5 two-pointers and 2 of 7 threes. The team’s next-best scorer, Tony Taylor, finished with 7 points after making 1 of 3 two-pointer and 1 of 4 threes.
Grant was not only efficient, but he was timely. He missed his first shot and committed 2 turnovers in the first 2 minutes. After another turnover midway through the opening quarter, Grant would not commit another. He scored 16 second-quarter points, including the go-ahead three-pointer, to help Turk Telekom take a slim halftime lead, 40-43.
He keyed the key fourth-quarter run too. After Darion Atkins drew the hosts within 59-62, Grant assisted on the next 5 points before scoring in the lane to establish a double-digit lead from which Trento never recovered.
Perhaps Grant’s most impressive number of the night was 12. That’s how many points Turk Telekom outscored Trento by when he was on the floor. In the 3 minutes and 22 seconds that Grant sat out, Trento outscored the visitors by 4.