Caja Laboral, Bennet Cantu and Bizkaia Bilbao Basket win – Euroleague Group A 1st week Review
During the first week of the Turkish Airlines Euro league, three games took place in Group A. Here is a brief review of the games:
Caja Laboral 69 - Fenerbahce Ulker 66
Mirza Teletovic racked up a game-high 23 points to lead the Caja Laboral to a 69-66 victory over the Fenerbahce Ulker on October 19, 2011 in the first game of Group A at Abdi Ipekci Arena, Istanbul.
Milko Bjelica added 12 points and five rebounds while Kevin Seraphin ended with 10 points and grabbed six rebounds in his Turkish Airlines Euroleague debut.
Omer Onan led Fenerbahce with 16 points on 9 for 9 shooting from free throw line and grabbed six boards. James Gist and Roco Ukic contributed 10 points apiece for Ulker with Gist also pulling down seven rebounds on the night.
Caja got off to a solid start and carried an eight-point lead, 20-12, after first quarter. Ulker fought back in the second quarter, outscoring the visiting team 22-16 to trim their opening period deficit to two at halftime.
Laboral continued to play with focus and limited Fenerbahce to 12 points in the third quarter, pushing their lead to 53-48. Ulker came back into the contest in the last quarter though and made it a two-point contest at 68-66, with one minute to go.
Pau Ribas however hit a free throw to make it 69-66. Fenerbahce had the last possession with a chance to tie the game, but Omer Onan missed a shot from downtown.
Bennet Cantu 80 - SLUC Nancy 69
Bennet Cantu celebrated their long-awaited return to the Euroleague in style as they handily defeated SLUC Nancy 80-69 at Pala Desio.
Andrea Cinciarini led Cantu with 15 points on a perfect 3 for 3 shooting from three-point range. Vladimir Micov had 14 points and Marko Scekic totalled 11 points for Cantu.
Nancy’s Akin Akingbala punctuated a game-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Nicolas Batum and Adrien Moerman added 13 points each. Batum, the Portland Trail Blazers import, also dished out eight assists and grabbed seven rebounds in the loss.
SLUC played came out with a balance attack and held a 21-17 lead after first quarter. However, Cantu raised the ante and managed to knot the game at 44, heading into the second half. Bennet tightened their defense at the start of second half and reduced Nancy to only 8 points in the third period to nudge ahead by 57-52. Nancy did not get any closer than five points in the fourth quarter and Cantu sealed their first win of the season.
Bizkaia Bilbao Basket 76 – Olympiacos 61
Marco Banic racked up 22 points as Bizkaia Bilbao beat the Olympiacos 76-61 on October 21 in front of 9,000 fans at Bilbao Arena.
Banic also pulled down five rebounds and finished on near-perfect 7 for 9 from two-pointers and 8 for 8 from free throw line. D'or Fischer followed Banic with 16 points and 8 boards while Aaron Jackson had 11 points and five assists in the victory.
Martynas Gecevicius led Olympiacos with 15 points and Kyle Hines came off the bench with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Bizkaia put together a 13-7 run to take an 18-11 advantage after the first period and led by 37-31 at halftime. The second half was more of the same, with Bilbao Basket leading 60-49 after three, and Olympiacos never seriously challenging in the fourth quarter.
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