A smothering defensive display and 62.5% three point shooting power Turk Telekom to its largest EuroCup victory ever
Turk Telekom clinches playoff spot with record breaking rout at Panionios
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 15 of 18
Regular Season
group b
Panionios Cosmorama Travel AthensPAN
61106
Turk Telekom AnkaraTTA
group b
Overview
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Turk Telekom Ankara maintained its BKT EuroCup momentum, dominating en route to a historic 61-106 road win over Panionios Cosmorama Travel Athens on Wednesday night to improve to 10-5 in Group B and clinch a playoff spot.
Turk Telekom didn’t just secure a ticket to the next stage, it recorded the club’s biggest-ever margin of victory in the EuroCup, topping its previous best of 40 points from 2007 and handing Panionios its worst-ever defeat.
Coming off two straight home wins, Turk Telekom once again relied on its defense on the road.
From the second quarter onward, the visitors took control with tighter defense and strong shooting from beyond the arc, maintaining momentum as Michael Devoe orchestrated the offense with 15 points and 9 assists.
‘‘We played a really good defense tonight,’’ Devoe said after the game. ‘‘We executed really well, but I think we're just playing really well right now and our chemistry is really going far. So, I think for us, we just gotta continue that… Our goal from the beginning of the season is a championship. So, that's our standard.’’
Panionios opened the game with a 7-0 burst, and Turk Telekom struggled early, committing 5 turnovers in the first quarter. The visitors bounced back in the second, finding rhythm on both ends and closing the period with a 21-point lead.
After the interval, Turk Telekom kept up the same pace, attacking the basket and finding easy points in the paint. That inside presence has been a constant force for the Ankara side all season, reflected in a 59.8% two-point shooting rate, second best in the competition.
The visitors shot 15 of 24 (62.5%) from deep, with eight different players knocking down at least 1 triple. Kyle Allman made 3 of them and finished with 23 points. Marko Simonovic added 14 points and 5 rebounds, while Uros Trifunovic chipped in 11 points.
‘‘We knew that we needed to start the game strong, but we couldn't do that in the first quarter, but after that, we picked that up. End of the day, one game we won, it's a long, long time period we have in front of us. The only thing we need to stay focused,’’ said head coach Erdem Can.
Panionios entered the game riding the momentum of its recent performances, including a second win of the season over Buducnost and a narrow loss to Trento last week. Led by Nate Watson, who dominated the paint in the first quarter and finished with 19 points, the hosts got off to a strong start but couldn’t maintain it.
‘‘I think we stayed totally out of gas for this game after four very good games that we played in a row,’’ Coach Nenad Markovic said in the post-game press conference. ‘‘Players look tired. We have tired minds also. We didn't react well in any kind of situations that was in front of us on the court.’’
Turk Telekom will return home to face Lietkabelis Panevezys next week, while Panionios hosts the London Lions.
