With Turk Telekom Ankara missing both Octavius Ellis and Aaron Harrison, JaJuan Johnson took responsibility at the offensive end. He tied his career-high with 28 points by shooting 11-of-23 from the field and 6-of-8 from the foul line. 

Johnson does his best Superman impression

His 23 attempts were 40.4% of Turk Telekom’s total attempts and 62.2% of the team’s two-point shots. He also grabbed 4 of the team’s 7 offensive rebounds and finished with a team-high 7 rebounds in the game. Johnson also chipped in 2 steals and 1 block and not a single turnover in nearly 35 minutes of play for an index rating of 27.

Turk Telekom shuts down shooters again

Lietkabelis once again struggled with its ball-handling, committing 16 turnovers - right in line with the 15.9 turnovers it averaged coming in - the third-most in the EuroCup. Lietkabelis did a good job limiting Turk Telekom’s offensive rebounds - just 7 for the hosts. The Lithuanian side was tied for the fewest allowed at just 7.3 per game. But JaJuan Johnson twice was able to get putback dunks as the hosts made sure to take advantage of those few offensive rebounds they did control.

JaJuan Johnson - Turk Telekom Ankara (photo Turk Telekom) - EC21

Turk Telekom Ankara remained undefeated at home and won back-to-back games for the first time this season by fighting off a tough Lietkabelis Panevezys effort 65-60 in Group A. With Henrik Rodl coaching his first game at the helm, Turk Telekom jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter, but fell behind in the second. The game went back and forth before the hosts lost a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and eventually survived thanks to a clutch three-pointer from Anthony Clemmons and a layup by JaJuan Johnson in the final minute.

Turk Telekom edges Lietkabelis to stay perfect at home, 65-60

Johnson scored 28 points with 7 rebounds to lead Turk Telekom, which improved to 5-3 and 4-0 at home. Clemmons chipped in 11 points and 4 assists and Alex Perez tallied 5 points and 11 assists. Lietkabelis dropped its fourth game out of its last five to fall to 3-5 despite Djordje Gagic and Panagiotis Kalaitzakis both scoring 11 points in the loss. 

Gagic opened the scoring for the visitors, but Turk Telekom had a blistering start with Perez and Berk Demir both hitting three-pointers while Johnson scored 7 points in building a 15-4 cushion. After a timeout, Kaspars Berzins drained a triple and was answered from deep by Clemmons. Lietkabelis held Turk Telekom scoreless for nearly 6 minutes and Kalaitzakis tallied 6 points to trim the gap to 20-15 after 10 minutes.

Karolis Giedraitis’s free throw to start the second quarter trimmed the deficit to 4 points. Turk Telekom responded with the next 5 points to move ahead 25-16 as it took 4 minutes before Lietkabelis finally made its first basket - a Dovydas Giedraitis triple. Kristupas Zemaitis followed with a three-pointer of his own and jumper and Gediminas Orelik knotted the game at 27-27. Kalaitzakis added 3 free throws and Lietkabelis went back ahead for the first time since the opening basket 31-32 only to see Johnson’s dunk give Turk Telekom the lead, 33-32 at the break. 

Vytenis Lipkevicius knocked down a three-pointer to start the second half and Zemaitis’s triple gave Lietkabelis a 35-38 advantage. Turk Telekom did a good job stopping Lietkabelis’ offense while Clemmons and Aubrey Dawkins hit three-pointers and Johnson scored 7 points in a 13-4 run to surge ahead 48-42. The score was 48-43 after 30 minutes.

Johnson continued his superb game with 3 more points and the lead was 53-43. Lietkabelis needed almost 2 minutes to score with Gagic’s free throws and Lipkevicius and Karolis Giedraitis followed with triples. Kalaitzakis evened the game again at 53-53. Dawkins finally got Turk Telekom out of its funk after nearly 5 minutes without a point as he buried a three-pointer. Johnson added a putback dunk and 2 free throws and the lead was 60-53 with 2 minutes to play. Lietkabelis was not done yet with Orelik draining a triple and Dovydas Giedraitis cutting it to 60-58 with 61 seconds left. Clemmons punched right back with a three-pointer of his own. At the other end, Gagic put back an offensive rebound to trim it to 3 with 23 seconds remaining. Johnson finished the game for good with an easy layin after a pass from Perez with 11 seconds left. 

Anthony Clemmons - Turk Telekom Ankara (photo Turk Telekom) - EC21

Turk Telekom did a good job of slowing down Lietkabelis’ main offensive weapon Gediminas Orelik. He came into the game averaging 16.7 points while also making 44.6% from three-point range. 

Turk Telekom holds Orelik in check

Against the Turkish side, Orelik made just 1 of 7 from long range and scored 8 points - though he did contribute in other ways with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. It was the second time in three games that the 31-year-old sharpshooter was silenced to just 8 points. His PIR of 14 was his third-lowest this season.

Gediminas Orelik - Lietkabelis Panevezys (photo Turk Telekom) - EC21

This is what the protagonists of the game had to say after such a close deal down the stretch.

Post-Game Quotes: Turk Telekom 65-60 Lietkabelis


### Henrik Rodl, Turk Telekom Ankara

“I’m very proud of our effort today. We played hard as a team. We were under-matched in a lot of situations, but the guys fought incredibly hard to get those rebounds and extra possessions to help us win the game.”

“This is a very important win for our group, a very difficult game with the short rotation we had with our injuries. I’m very, very proud of our guys about how they fought, how they got rebounds and extra possessions. We really came through strong at the end. I thought Coach Canak had a very good game plan. They made it very hard for us. They are a tough team to play and they are going to get a lot of wins. I have said in the past how much respect I have for him. But tonight I am just so proud of our group and how they competed. We’re on the right way.”



### Nenad Canak, Lietkabelis Panevezys
“Congratulations to Turk Telekom. We opened the game really bad defensively. We were too soft on defense. We let their best shooters shoot open shots. In the second half, they punished us because we didn’t box out sometimes and we had terrible decisions on offense. Plus we didn’t make our open shots. That’s the reason we lost.”



### JaJuan Johnson, Turk Telekom Ankara
“We just want to play as hard as we can. We’ve been playing really good lately. Our biggest thing is just defense. We’ve had guys out and everybody has been just stepping up. So I’m just happy for everybody.”


Kristupas Zemaitis - Lietkabelis Panevezys (photo Turk Telekom) - EC21

Post-Game Quotes: Lokomotiv 101-94 Partizan


### Branko Maksimovic, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
"There were no halftime adjustments, just stayed to fight like a team. Regardless of the situation on the court, good or bad, we stayed like a team and made good decisions. One of the most important things I told the players at halftime, 'if you are alone, do not wait a moment, take a shot. You must take a shot, it's a good shot, we must believe in that shot.' And you saw in the second half we scored a lot of open shots, we were good on defense. We knew what we wanted, what we wanted to attack and I think it was a good game. Thanks to Partizan for a great, great fight, but think we deserved to win tonight. The players surprised me in the locker room, maybe I will see to surprise them in the first practice."



### Zeljko Obradovic, Partizan NIS Belgrade
"Our defense was very bad. Probably the worst game we played defensively. We prepared the game to stop McCollum first of all, he had an excellent game, he is a great player. I believe this was the key. Also in the first half, we had a problem under our basket, they took 10 offensive rebounds. In the second half, it was too easy for them, they scored 56 points in the second half. That's too much and they deserved to win. Lokomotiv has experience and a lot of quality in every position. They worked like a team and won the game. Congratulations to my colleague, he prepared a great game and finally they deserved to win the game. We have one more game in the first half of the regular season. It is obvious a lot of teams have quality and every game is an opportunity to continue to play good basketball. That is how we handle it and we will try to prepare ourselves to play like we did until now."



### Darius Thompson, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
"It was a big game of will, but I am glad our team came out with the win. This win was for the fans, the family, everybody. To show that we are going to be okay. We just got to keep fighting and believe in ourselves."


Gregor Glas - Partizan NIS Belgrade (photo Fedor Aebor - Lokomotiv) - EC21

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar finished the calendar year on a winning note by outgunning Group A leader Partizan NIS Belgrade 101-94 on Wednesday night. The two teams are now level atop Group A with 6-2 records. 

Lokomotiv drains 16 triples to down Partizan, 101-94

They traded leads for much of the first half and the third quarter, but Lokomotiv's long-range shooting made the difference. The hosts made 16 three-point shots on 34 attempts, led by a career-high 33 points from Errick McCollum and point guard Darius Thompson's 10 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds. Stanton Kidd added 16 points, Quinn Cook finished with 15, and Johnathan Motley had 11 points and 6 rebounds before being ejected from the game early in the third quarter. Gregor Glas paced Partizan with 20 points, Zach LeDay scored 19, Aleksa Avramovic 15, Kevin Punter 14 and Rade Zagorac 11 in a losing effort. 

The teams opened the game red-hot. Glas and LeDay made back-to-back threes for the visitors only for Stanislav Ilnitskiy to sink a corner three and Thompson a triple-plus-foul. Back-to-back triples from McCollum made it 17-8 after 4 minutes. However, a triple from LeDay and a long baseline jumper from Yam Madar sparked a 0-7 run for Partizan to close the gap and after Kidd's triple, Partizan scored the last 6 points of the first quarter to take a 22-23 lead.

Punter made a jumper, but McCollum netted his third triple and Motley had a tip-in to put Lokomotiv back in front, 31-29. Zagorac fought for a layup-plus-foul and Glas knocked down another three to send Partizan ahead 31-37. But Motley had another tip-in and a three-pointer before Kidd's corner triple restored Lokomotiv's lead and helped the hosts take a 45-42 advantage into halftime. 

The teams kept trading blows in the third. Avramovic tied it with a driving layup before McCollum nailed a jumper and Greg Whittington had a baseline dunk to make it 49-45. After LeDay's baseline basket, Thompson and Zagorac traded triples and a tip-in from Balsa Koprivica put Partizan back in front 53-54. McCollum answered with a long three, and Thompson had a big dunk for the hosts. Glas made back-to-back triples to tie it at 60-60. A dunk from Kidd and a triple from Cook had Lokomotiv back in front and forced Coach Zeljko Obradovic to call a timeout. Cook took it to the rim for a 70-62 cushion in the last minute of the third, before Punter snapped an 8-0 run to end the scoring in the quarter.

A triple from Cook extended the margin to 76-67 in the fourth, but Zagorac answered right back with a three for Partizan. McCollum and Punter traded three-pointers before Avramovic went coast-to-coast to cut it to 79-77 as the game looked as if it is going down to the wire. Glas had a dunk and Nemanja Dangubic drove for a layup to keep Partizan within a single possession, but Whittington and Cook combined for 9 points, including Cook's corner triple, for a 93-86 lead with 2 minutes to go. Kidd's triple 30 seconds later made it 96-88 and he added another one with 1:02 left, giving the hosts the only double-digit lead of the game and sealing the outcome. 

Stanton Kidd - Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar (photo Fedor Aebor - Lokomotiv) - EC21

One of the highest-scoring games of the EuroCup season saw five double-digit scorers on each team, all led by Errick McCollum who netted a career-high 33. In 30 minutes on the floor, he made 5 of 7 three-pointers and continued his move up the all-time charts. 

More milestones for McCollum

McCollum now has 1,404 career points, moving past Jamar Smith and with only Bojan Dubljevic (1,492) ahead of him. He also moved ahead of Stefan Markovic into second all-time in total PIR with 1,532. Dubljevic is also the only player ahead of him with 1,736. Finally, McCollum's 5 triples got him to 123 for his career, into 30th place on the all-time charts. 

Errick McCollum - Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar (photo Fedor Aebor - Lokomotiv) - EC21

Darius Thompson was everywhere for Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar against Partizan NIS Belgrade in Round 8. He finished just 1 rebound shy of a triple-double. Playing 29 minutes, Thompson scored 10 points, dished 10 assists and had 9 rebounds for the night.

Thompson flirts with history 

Had he gotten another rebound, he would have been the 10th player to record a triple-double in competition history. Just one of the previous nine has been posted in the last six campaigns and that one was by Promitheas Patras's Vangelis Mantzaris last season. 