Karsiyaka soars into eighthfinals behind 109 points!

Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir raced past visiting Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia 109-66 on Wednesday to secure a spot in the Eurocup Eighthfinals by taking second place in Group K. Kenny Gabriel's 25 points paced six Karsiyaka players in double figures. Lazeric Jones had 16 points, Josh Carter hit for 15, Bracey Wright scored 14 , Egemen Guven added 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks, and Can Altintig chipped in 10 points. Karsiyaka grabbed second place with a 3-3 record. Reggio Emilia dropped to 2-4 in the group and finished in third place. Achille Polonara collected 24 points and 10 rebounds in the loss while Vladimir Golubovic had 12 points and 7 rebounds as the visitors played without injures stars Pietro Aradori and Darjus Lavrinovic. Karsiyaka advances to play fellow Turkish power Galatasaray Istanbul in the eighthfinals, which begin February 23 and 24.

Colton Iverson started the scoring for the hosts with Golubovic evening it for Reggio Emilia. Altintig and Carter both nailed three-balls to start an 11-0 surge as Karsiyaka went up 13-2. Arturs Strautins stopped the run and Polonara scored 7 straight points and Amedeo Della Valle’s triple got the guests to within 16-15. Carter finished the quarter with 2 more three-pointers and Karsiyaka led 24-18 after 10 minutes. Two Gabriel three-balls pushed the lead into double digits and Wright made it 34-20. Golubovic answered with the next 6 points but back-to-back triples from Wright and Gabriel helped extend the advantage to 48-30. Polonara’s three-pointer trimmed the gap to 14 points but the hosts were leading 52-35 at intermission.

Jones opened the second half with two treys and another basket as the lead swelled to 60-35. Andrea De Nicolao finally got Reggio Emilia on the scoreboard after more than 2 minutes of action. But Carter, Altintig and Gabriel nailed three-pointers on consecutive possessions as Karsiyaka ran the cushion up to 69-40. Iverson’s basket pushed it over the 30-point mark and Muhammed Baygul made it 81-46, late in the third quarter, which ended with the hosts ahead 81-49. Guven scored the first 4 points of the fourth quarter as the lead was 85-49. The margin was 39 points on Wright’s three-pointer for 92-53 with less than 7 minutes to play. Reggio Emilia could not get the gap closer than 36 points the rest of the way and the lead grew to 47 points - 107-60 - on triples by Jones and Soner Senturk. The final 109 points by Karsiyaka were the second-most in Last 32 history.