GS Medical Park make it to the top 16; Rout Union Olimpija 80-59: Euroleague Basketball (Part 1)
When the Euroleague started, not much was expected from GS Medical Park, a side making its debut in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.
However on Wednesday night, they proved everyone wrong by making it to the top 16. Facing Union Olimpija in an important game, played at Abdi Ipekci Sports Hall, Medical Park pulled away midway through the game and went on to thump
Olimpija 80-59. Union have now been eliminated from the tournament and can only look back at their mistakes.
Olimpija fought well in the first half, but midway through the third frame, GS Medical went on a roll and initiated an onslaught that continued until the end. Union just had no answers to the blitz and in the end, they lost with
a massive margin.
Jaka Lakovic paced Park with 16 points on an accurate 4 for 4 from the downtown and 2 for 2 from the charity stripe, while Luksa Andric and Furkan Aldemir, playing the supporting role to perfection, pounded 11 each.
Surprisingly, both the game top scorers were from the losing side.
Deon Thompson marshalled Union with game high 21 points including 9 for 14 from the stripe while Boris Rothbart, the second highest scorer from the game, accumulated 18 points and pulled down 7 rebounds. Had there been one other
significant contribution from any other player, Union might have saved the humiliation against one of the surprise packages of the tournament.
Olimpija coach, Saso Filipovski was naturally disappointed with the loss and the consequent elimination; however he expressed his satisfaction with the current roster and vowed to come back stronger next year.
"Congratulations for Galatasaray Medical Park for their win. We gave today our maximum for around 30 minutes of the game. For more, we lost a lot of energy. They knew that sooner or later we would get tired and that’s what happened
in the second half. They used that and won the game. I’m satisfied with the approach of my players. Although our scoring skills were not higher today. We played enough good basketball and those young players have a good future."
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