Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul used a 0-11 first-quarter run and a 0-10 second-quarter charge to take control against Dolomiti Energia Trento en route to a 74-95 victory on Tuesday night. The visitors led by as many as 32 in the fourth quarter before taking their collective foot off the gas and coasting to victory.
Jarrod Jones did not play at all in the fourth quarter, which is a shame for fans of record-breaking, because he was on pace for a big one. The Darussafaka forward exited the game with more than 2 minutes remaining in the third quarter and did not return. Until that point, Jones had collected 17 rebounds in 23:47 on the floor. That number not only represented a club record and was the most by any player in the competition all season, but ranked 16th on the all-time charts.
The EuroCup's single-game rebounding record is 22, set by Lazaros Papadopoulos with Dynamo Moscow in December 2004. Jones was on pace to break that, but alas, Coach Selcuk Ernak was less interested in records and more in resting his best player with the win in hand late in the game. Otherwise, a string of other Darussafaka marks may have fallen; the team tied its club record with 15 three-pointers and had the second-most points (95), rebounds (48), assists (22) and performance index rating (116) in club history.
Those numbers are all related; it was Darussafaka's outstanding three-point shooting and rebounding dominance that allowed it to run up the score and build such an impressive PIR. Darussafaka made 9 of 18 three-point shots in the first half and outrebounded Trento 12-27 in the first 20 minutes. That helped it surge to a 34-55 halftime lead from which Trento never recovered.
A 30.7% three-point shooting team entering the game, Darussafaka returned to the ground by making just 1 of 5 shots from downtown to open the second half, but the damage had been done. Four players made multiple threes for the winners, led by Gary Browne (4 of 6) and Doron Lamb (4 of 7). With Johnathan Hamilton and Jones leading the way for a dominant rebounding side, a credible three-point attack could take this team to another level, especially in a decisive Round 6 game against Segafredo Virtus Bologna with a spot in the quarterfinals at stake.