Colson stars as Darussafaka's defense drowns Brescia

Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul bounced back from its last-second loss in Badalona last week by downing Germani Brescia Leonessa 35-61 in Group C on the road on Wednesday. Darussafaka improved to 3-1 in the standings while Brescia dropped to 2-2. Bolzie Colson led the winners with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Johnathan Hamilton also grabbed 12 boards for Darussafaka. Awudu Abass paced Brescia with 12 points. Colson shined early to give Darussafaka a 5-14 margin after 10 minutes. He joined forces with Kartal Ozmizrak on an 0-8 run that made it 8-22. Tommaso Laquintana and Abass brought Brescia within 20-28 at halftime. Darussafaka kept running its offense through Colson while suffocating the hosts on defense to boost the margin to 26-44 at the end of the third quarter en route to a convincing win.

Abass got Brescia going with a driving layup, but Doron Lamb and Gary Browne fueled a 0-8 run that Hamilton capped with a jumper for a 2-8 Darussafaka lead. Awass hit a triple only to see Colson answer from downtown and soon gave Darussafaka a 5-14 margin after 10 minutes. Kenneth Horton buried a corner three-pointer early in the second quarter before a close jumper by Colson ignited an 0-8 run highlighted by Ozmizrak's bomb from downtown for an 8-22 Darussafaka lead. Luca Vitali hit a stop-and-pop jumper and a floater by Laquintana gave Brescia hope at 12-23. Laquintana and DeAndre Lansdowne each buried a triple and a coast-to-coast dunk by Awass caused the visitors to call timeout at 20-26. A jump hook by Jones fixed the halftime score at 20-28. David Moss hit a jumper right after the break, but Colson did better with a bomb from beyond the arc and soon helped the guests restore a 24-35 margin. Colson kept pacing Darussafaka with a second-chance basket and Browne added a three-pointer to break the game open, 26-44, after 30 minutes. Horton hit a triple early in the fourth quarter, but Ozmizrak answered from downtown and a driving layup by Erkan Veyseloglu sealed the outcome, 29-49, with over 6 minutes remaining.

Pivotal performer

Bonzie Colson was the best player on the court at Palaleonessa A2A. He finished the game with a double-double, scoring 21 points on 2-of-6 two-point shooting, 3-of-4 three-point shooting and 8-of-10 on free throws. He added 12 rebounds, 2 blocks and 6 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 29.

Game-changing moment

Darussafaka led 24-32 early in the third quarter. Its defense had been outstanding until then, but the visitors did even better, limiting Brescia to just 2 points in the next 8 minutes. Meanwhile, Colson led Darussafaka to a 26-44 margin at the end of the third quarter, enough to seal the outcome.

Stellar stat

Darussafaka only allowed 35 points, the fewest points by any team in EuroCup history. Brescia hit only 12 field goal attempts, also an all-time low, with a low percentages (12 of 61, 19.7%). That allowed Darussafaka to pull down 41 defensive rebounds, the best mark in a non-overtime EuroCup game and the second-best mark in competition history; ALBA Berlin pulled down 46 in a five-overtime win against Bosna Sarajevo on December 4, 2007.

Did you notice?

It was also the lowest-scoring game in competition history. The two teams combined for 96 points. Bizkaia Bilbao Basket and CEZ Basketball Nymburk had previously combined for 98 points in Game 2 of the 2010-11 quarterfinals, 46-52, on March 31, 2010. Brescia also recorded the lowest team PIR in EuroCup history: 0. Telenet Ostend had the previous record, 14, on November 5, 2002.

Next game

Both teams return to 7DAYS EuroCup action next week. Brescia visits Nanterre 92 on Tuesday, October 29. A day later, Darussafaka hosts UNICS Kazan.