McCollum leads Galatasaray to come-from-behind win over Nizhny

Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul rallied late behind Erick McCollum to beat Nizhny Novgorod 87-85 and remain undefeated in Group F. McCollum scored 15 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to bring the hosts back from a 12-point deficit. When McCollum came up short on his final shot, Stephane Lasme came to the rescue with the go-ahead put-back that won the game. Lasme finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks to help Galatasaray reach the midway point of the regular season at 5-0. Vladimir Micov made 4 of 8 three-pointers in scoring 20 points and Blake Schilb added 13. Victor Rudd paced Nizhny with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Dimitriy Khvostov tallied 17 points and 6 assists, Rasid Mahalbasic scored 16 and Kaspars Berzins 14 for Nizhny, which fell to 2-3.

Galatasaray won the opening tip and scored first through Joey Dorsey, but back-to-back triples by Berzins and Rudd put the visitors on top. Galatasaray drained a few threes too, with 2 coming from Micov and another from Sinan Guler to lead 14-10. Vladimir Ivlev and Schilb traded threes as the teams continued to traded baskets. Mahalbasic’s entrance changed the game as his put-back put Nizhny ahead 19-20. Micov connected on his third triple, but Mahalbasic added a pair of free throws and scored once more to tie it at 24-24 after 10 minutes. Mahalbasic and McCollum traded shots to start the second quarter. Micov and Schilb hit threes to put Galatasaray up 35-30. Nizhny stormed back as Rudd tied it at 39-39 and Khvostov’s three-pointer put the visitors back ahead. Rudd finished the half strong to give Nizhny a 46-49 victory.

Galatasaray took charge to open the second half as Lasme scored twice in an 8-0 run that put the hosts back on top. Khvostov’s third and fourth three-pointer carried Nizhny ahead once more. After Micov gave the hosts a 1-point lead, Berzins scored twice in a 0-6 push to finish the quarter with the visitors leading 60-65. Threes by Berzins and Baburin gave Nizhny a double-digit lead early in the fourth quarter. McCollum heated up for the hosts, but Nizhny had answers. Still McCollum closed the gap to 69-76 midway through the quarter. However Mahalbasic scored inside and Rudd from downtown to stretch the lead to 12. Free throws by Lasme and Micov helped Galatasaray revive its chances at 75-81. McCollum’s three-point play followed by a technical foul on the Nizhny bench made it 79-83 with three minutes to play. McCollum continued to dominate with free throws and then a jumper with 48 seconds remaining that made it 85-85. After Semen Antonov airballed from downtown for Nizhny, Galatasaray turned to McCollum again. This time he missed, but Lasme was there for the putback with 5 seconds left. After a timeout, Baburin missed at the buzzer and Galatasaray celebrated the win.