McCollum, Koksal fuel Galatasaray over AEK

Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul remained perfect in Group F by downing AEK Athens 89-65 on Wednesday in a game it led from start to finish. AEK Athens fell to 0-2. Eighteen unanswered points scored by the home team bridging the first two quarters gave it a huge 31-11 lead just two and a half minutes into the second quarter. The hosts further boosted their run to a 25-point margin close to halftime, 44-19, and never looked back. A 16-0 charge in the third quarter essentially iced the game. Errick McCollum led Galatasaray with 25 points and 5 assists, Huseyn Koksal was perfect on 5 three-point shots en route to 21 points, Caleb Green added 10 with 9 rebounds and Blake Schilb also scored 10, while Joey Dorsey collected 9 points and 12 boards. Loukas Mavrokefalides amassed a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds for AEK Athens, while Dusan Sakota scored 20 on 6-of-10 shooting from long distance.

Green from downtown established the first consistent margin for the home team, 11-5, after four minutes. Mavrokefalides and Malik Hairston fueled AEK to get within 13-11, while a three-point-play by former Euroleague champion Dorsey made it 20-11. Schilb completed the job from mid-range to finish the first quarter up 22-11. Koksal scored 7 of the first 9 points for Galatasaray to open the second quarter and cap an 18-0 run for a 31-11 advantage. Sakota ended six scoreless minutes for the visitors with a long three and tried to keep his team on track with another shot from long distance to make it 33-19. The answer came from McCollum, who amassed 7 consecutive points for a 25-point advantage. The duo of Mavrokefalides and Sakota tried to push the guests, but Dorsey and McCollum fixed the score at 48-27 at halftime.

AEK Athens came back from the locker rooms and made another attempt to come back. After scoring 10 consecutive points, they closed within 48-37 thanks to Chris Warren, but from that moment Galatasaray showed all its skills with an amazing 16-0 run highlighted by Sinan Guler to lead 64-37 after three quarters. Koksal from downtown extended the difference to 70-42 and then McCollum completed his outstanding performance with 5 more points, while Koksal completed a perfect game from beyond the arc to set the final score.