Noah Kirkwood led Slask’s second-half charge
Slask stays hot at home to take down Bahcesehir
Informes de partidos
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 8 of 18
Regular Season
group a
Slask WroclawWKS
9991
Bahcesehir College IstanbulBKS
group a
Overview
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Slask Wroclaw delighted its fans with a 99-91 win over Bahcesehir College Istanbul, which came into the round in sole possession of first place in Group A. While Bahcesehir dropped to 6-2, Slask improved to 4-4 to grab a share of fourth place.
Noah Kirkwood was at the heart of Slask’s second-half surge, stepping forward and giving his team exactly the spark it needed. The Canadian guard took over offensively, knocking down big shots from beyond the arc as he hit 5-of-7 from three, and added 6 assists and 4 rebounds while pouring in 21 points to finish as the home side’s top scorer and a steady force throughout the night.
‘‘I’m really happy with how we played,’’ said Kirkwood, ‘‘We didn't let any of these circumstances about how big a club they are, they're winning record atop the EuroCup… We just wanted to play our basketball and today we hit some shots and gave energy and got the win.’’
The first half was tight as Bahcesehir forced Slask into turnovers, but the home side, starting 10 points behind, leaned on Kadre Gray and Stefan Dordevic to stay in the game. Gray poured in 13 points in the opening 20 minutes while Dordevic dominated inside with 12, keeping Slask within reach heading into halftime.
‘‘We actually didn’t start so good, there were some bad decisions.’’ said Coach Ainars Bagatskis, ‘‘We lost the ball a few times and they got that 10-point advantage. But after that, we started to play without hesitation.’’
The second half saw a more aggressive Slask Wroclaw step out of the locker room on both ends of the floor, capitalizing on Bahcesehir’s defensive lapses. The home side grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, turning those extra opportunities into a decisive edge that helped swing the game their way.
Reflecting on that shift, Coach Ainars said, ‘‘I’m just gonna repeat what I said to my team before the game. If you wanna survive, if you wanna be successful in this game, we have to play not with aggressiveness, not with physicality. But with a double aggressiveness, double physicality.’’
Slask continued its strong home form, scoring at least 92 points once again and keeping its offense rolling. Great shooting from beyond the arc broke down Bahcesehir’s resistance and gave the home side the edge it needed to secure the win.
Bahcesehir suffered its first road loss of the season, struggling from beyond the arc with just 5-of-28 three-point shooting. Despite leading the competition with 13.9 offensive rebounds per game, the team fell short on the boards against the home side, grabbing only 10. Caleb Homesley led the visitors with 20 points, followed by Malachi Flynn with 13, but it wasn’t enough to challenge Slask’s control.
Reflecting the loss, Coach Marko Barac said, ‘‘They were very successful one-on-one all game long, we couldn’t stay in front of the people that gave them confidence to shoot and to make some tough shots, because also they won the battle of rebounds. Everything that I was asking before the game, we couldn’t do it. Now it is up to me to analyze why did this happen.’’
