Joventut thrashes Bahcesehir on the road

Joventut Badalona remained undefeated in 7DAYS EuroCup by downing Bahcesehir Koleji Istanbul 72-91 on the road on Wednesday. Joventut improved to 3-0 in the standings, while Bahcesehir dropped to 0-3. Ante Tomic led the winners with 21 points, Nenad Dimitrijevic added 13, Conor Morgan had 11 and Vladimir Brodziansky, Ferran Bassas and Simon Birgander each scored 10 for Joventut. Birgander added 11 rebounds for a double-double. Erick Green paced Bahcesehir with 13 points, Ismet Akpinar scored 13 and Jamal Jones had 10 for the hosts. Joventut won all four quarters in a no-doubt-about-it win.

Deniz Kilicli got Bahcesehir going with a fastbreak dunk and Jones sank a baseline jumper, but Albert Ventura and an unstoppable Tomic caused the hosts to call timeout at 4-10. Ridvan Oncel stepped up with a driving layup and Jones added a three-point play that brought Bahcesehir within 9-10. Brodziansky and Dimitrijevic combined for 9 quick points to boost their team's lead to 12-19. Bassas downed a mid-range jumper and Brodziansky struck from downtown to make it a double-digit game, 14-24. Birgander scored twice in the paint to boost Joventut's lead to 16-28 after 10 minutes. Hadi Ozdemir took over with a layup and triple early in the second quarter, but Morgan kept Joventut way ahead, 21-32. Bassas fed Birgander for an alley-oop layup and scored off a smart inbounds play, but Akpinar and Ozdemir got the hosts within 26-36. Burek Yildizli bettered Xabi Lopez Arostegui's backdoor layup with a three-pointer before Morgan boosted Joventut's lead to 29-43. Green and Kilicli brought Bahcesehir a bit closer, 40-50, at halftime.

Brodziansky took over with a layup-plus-foul soon after the break. He got help from Tomic and Lopez-Arostegui to break the game open at 42-60. Yildizli tried to change things with a coast-to-coast layup, Thomas Akyazili added a couple of three-pointers and Green dunked to bring Bahcesehir back to life at 57-67. Pau Ribas and Bassas each buried a triple in an 0-8 run that kept the guests out of trouble, 57-75, after 30 minutes. Akpinar scored down low early in the fourth quarter and struck from downtown to bring Bahcesehir a bit closer, 62-75. Birgander dunked and Bassas buried a wide-open triple that sealed the outcome at 62-80. Akpinar downed back-to-back three-pointers, but Morgan and Dimitrijevic answered for a 68-85 Joventut lead, enough to control the game in the final 3 minutes.

Pivotal performer

Ante Tomic was a dominant force in the low post with many ways to score or find open teammates. He finished the game with 21 points on 9-of-10 two-point shooting plus 8 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and 5 fouls drawn for a PIR of 31.

Game-changing moment

Bahcesehit got within 9-10 midway through the first quarter, but Joventut used its depth to get a good lead. Brodziansky and Dimitrijevic combined for 9 points, Birgander added a couple of close baskets and all of a sudden, Joventut led 16-28 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back.

Stellar stat

Both teams took the same number of two-point attempts, 45. Joventut hit 29 of those (64.4%) and Bahcesehir only scored 19 (42.2%). Joventut had 26 assists, which was 10 more than Bahcesehir.

Did you know?

Tomic's only miss came with 2 minutes remaining. The record of most two-point shots made without a miss belongs to Robertas Javtokas, who scored all 12 of his two-point shots in a game for Dynamo Moscow against Slask Wroclaw on February 19, 2008.

Next game

Both teams returning to EuroCup action next week - on Tuesday, October 20. Bahacesehir hosts Partizan NIS Belgrade. And Joventut welcomes Umana Reyer Venice.