Darussafaka thrashes Levallois, qualifies to Top 16

Darussafaka Istanbul became the first team to qualify to the 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16 by overwhelming Levallois Metropolitans 100-67 at home on Wednesday. Darussafaka improved to 6-0 in Group A, while Levallois dropped to 1-5. Scottie Wilbekin led the winners with 20 points and 6 assists in just 22 minutes. JaJuan Johnson added 17 points, Okebn Ulubay scored 12 and Will Cummings 10 for Darussafaka. Boris Diaw led Levallois with 20 points and 12 rebounds and Roderick Odom had 16 points for the visitors. Wilbekin took over early in the game for an 11-3 Darussafaka lead. A layup by Dogus Ozdemiroglu gave the hosts a 24-15 margin after 10 minutes. Diaw had 17 points before the break, but Wilbekin and Johnson combined for 32 in the first half and got help from Michael Eric to give Darussafaka a 51-36 halftime lead, from which the visitors never recovered.

Wilbekin got Darussafaka going with a jumper and Johnson added a jump hook, but a triple by Diaw kept Levallois within 4-3. Wilbekin kept pushing the hosts with 5 points in a 7-0 run for an 11-3 Darussafaka lead. Diaw shined with a reverse layup and Klemen Prepelic scored down low, but Johnson and Wilbekin kept the hosts ahead, 15-9. A close basket by Rod Odom brought Levallois within 17-15 only to see Furkan Aldemir and Ozdemiroglu fuel a 7-0 run that gave Darussafaka a 24-15 lead after 10 minutes. Prepelic struck from downtown early in the second quarter, but Johnson and Wilbekin highlighted a 7-0 run that made it a double-digit game, 31-18. Louis Campbell followed a three-point play with an acrobatic layup and Diaw added consecutive put-back baskets, however an outstanding Johnson kept the hosts way ahead, 40-28. Darussafaka had no answer for Diaw, who followed a layup-plus-foul with a three-pointer, but Wilbekin kept scoring fluently and a buzzer-beating layup by Eric gave Darussafaka a 51-36 advantage at halftime.

Three-pointers by Ulubay and Wilbekin broke the game open, 59-38, right after the break. Odom and Campbell tried to change things with consecutive bombs from downtown, but James Bell and a red-hot Ulubay kept Darussafaka fully in charge, 66-45. Odom kept pacing Levallois, but Cummings, Johnson and Stanton Kidd helped the hosts to a 76-53 margin after 30 minutes. Levallois was held scoreless in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Kidd led a 10-0 run that sealed the outcome, 86-53, long before the final buzzer.