In the ninth week of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, we visited Spain’s Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and secured a hard-fought 89-84 victory. The game, held at Buesa Arena, saw our team leading 46-39 at halftime.
Our starting five consisted of Thompson, Beaubois, Nwora, Ercan, and Oturu. The game’s first points came from Ercan at the free-throw line, giving us an early 2-0 lead in the first minute. Beaubois and Thompson added to the score as the fifth minute ended in a 12-12 tie. Beaubois, with two more three-pointers and his fourth in the game, pushed the score to 22-16 by the eighth minute, with contributions from Nwora and Elijah. In the final minute of the quarter, Oturu’s basket in the paint helped us close the first 10 minutes with a 24-21 lead.
The second quarter began with Poirier and Nwora scoring, extending the lead to 31-24 by the 14th minute. Following points from Johnson and Elijah, Smits added five consecutive points, bringing the score to 41-29 in the 16th minute. After grabbing a defensive rebound, Elijah set up Johnson for a three-pointer, increasing the gap to 15 points at 44-29 by the 16:30 mark. We added two more points with Doğuş in the remaining minutes and headed into halftime leading 46-39.
The second half started slowly for us as we failed to score in the first four minutes, with the score shifting to 46-51 by the 24th minute. Our first points of the half came from Thompson in the 25th minute: 48-51. Elijah and Poirier added points, and the 27th minute saw us trailing by two, 57-59. Thompson’s back-to-back three-pointers helped us regain the lead at 63-61 by the 29th minute. Poirier’s stylish dunk in the final minute of the quarter allowed us to enter the last 10 minutes leading 65-63.
The final period started with a flurry of three-pointers from Elijah, Beaubois, and Willis, giving us a 74-70 advantage by the 32nd minute. Baskets from Elijah and Thompson maintained a narrow 78-77 lead with three minutes remaining. Poirier’s points, followed by a clutch three-pointer from Thompson, brought the score to 83-82 with 1:20 remaining. Elijah grabbed a key defensive rebound and converted it into a basket, putting us ahead 85-82 with just 30 seconds to go. In the final moments, Elijah and Thompson capitalized on tactical fouls to seal the game, ending with a 89-84 victory.
89
| # | Player | Min | Pts | 2P | 3P | FT | OR | DR | R | A | St | To | B | F | FR | EFFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodrigue Beaubois | 27:33 | 16 | 0 / 3 %0,00 | 5 / 6 %83,33 | 1 / 2 %50,00 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 15 |
| 3 | Jordan Nwora | 16:06 | 5 | 1 / 2 %50,00 | 1 / 3 %33,33 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Elijah Bryant | 27:29 | 20 | 5 / 9 %55,56 | 2 / 4 %50,00 | 4 / 4 %100,00 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 30 |
| 11 | Rolands Smits | 13:27 | 5 | 1 / 3 %33,33 | 0 / 1 %0,00 | 3 / 3 %100,00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 13 | Darius Thompson | 26:56 | 18 | 1 / 5 %20,00 | 4 / 7 %57,14 | 4 / 4 %100,00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 17 |
| 14 | Stanley Johnson | 11:56 | 5 | 1 / 3 %33,33 | 1 / 1 %100,00 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | Vincent Poirier | 21:52 | 11 | 5 / 8 %62,50 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 1 / 1 %100,00 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 15 |
| 18 | Doğuş Özdemiroğlu | 09:49 | 2 | 1 / 1 %100,00 | 0 / 2 %0,00 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -2 |
| 21 | Justus Hollatz | 00:11 | 0 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Ercan Osmani | 13:37 | 2 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 0 / 1 %0,00 | 2 / 2 %100,00 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | Daniel Oturu | 17:57 | 2 | 1 / 3 %33,33 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 35 | Derek Willis | 13:07 | 3 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 1 / 3 %33,33 | 0 / 0 %0,00 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| TOPLAM | 89 | 16 / 37 %43,24 | 14 / 28 %50,00 | 15 / 16 %93,75 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 16 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 22 | 18 | 92 |
84| # | Player | Min | Pts | 2P | 3P | FT | OR | DR | R | A | St | To | B | F | FR | EFFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Howard, Markus | 20:40 | 0 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 / 4 %0.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | -5 |
| 2 | Raieste, Sander | 0 | 0 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Sedekerskis, Tadas | 25:36 | 9 | 3 / 4 %75.00 | 1 / 3 %33.33 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16 |
| 9 | Luwawu-cabarrot, Timothe | 17:07 | 5 | 2 / 5 %40.00 | 0 / 1 %0.00 | 1 / 1 %100.00 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 10 | Jaramaz, Ognjen | 07:56 | 0 | 0 / 2 %0.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| 11 | Forrest, Trent | 25:53 | 8 | 2 / 9 %22.22 | 0 / 1 %0.00 | 4 / 5 %80.00 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 17 | Rogkavopoulos, Nikolaos | 14:17 | 8 | 1 / 1 %100.00 | 2 / 3 %66.67 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 18 | Diop, Khalifa | 28:41 | 13 | 6 / 8 %75.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 1 / 2 %50.00 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| 44 | Baldwin, Kamar | 13:07 | 5 | 1 / 3 %33.33 | 1 / 2 %50.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 45 | Hall, Donta | 10:47 | 8 | 3 / 4 %75.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 2 / 3 %66.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| 46 | Ndiaye, Ousmane | 07:50 | 6 | 0 / 1 %0.00 | 2 / 2 %100.00 | 0 / 0 %0.00 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 95 | Moneke, Chima | 28:06 | 22 | 8 / 10 %80.00 | 1 / 6 %16.67 | 3 / 5 %60.00 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 22 |
| TOPLAM | 84 | 26 / 47 %55.32 | 7 / 22 %31.82 | 11 / 16 %68.75 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 20 | 21 | 86 |
