In a game where the only incentive was another European win, as both teams had already ran out of options to advance to the Last 16 before tip-off, hosting PGE Turow got rid of Brose Baskets by 67-56 in Poland on Tuesday night. The guests from Germany dominated the first half thanks to defense and Turow's bad percentages from beyond the arc. However, thing changed when a 14-0 run to start the third period, and a 7-0 burst to start the fourth, allowed Turow to forge a lead good enough to take the win. This result allows PGE Turow to improve to 2-3 in Group F, while Brose Baskets stays last with a 0-5. Both teams are already out of competition in favor of Group F qualifiers Spirou Basket and BC Red Star. Damir Miljkovic led the winners with his 15 points, Chris aniels added 14a dn Robert Witka had 11. For Brose Baskets, only Demond Greene scored in double digits with his 13 points.
Demond Greene led Brose Baskets in a 2-11 starting run that was capped by Filiberto Rivera's three. Chris Daniels stopped the scoring drought of PGE Turow but Greene was still the driving force in offense forthe guests, as five points by him allowed Brose Baskets to close the firat quarter with a 10-19 score after hist last three. At that point, Turow was insisting from the arc and a 0 of 6 was too much of an obstacle to overcome at that point, while the guests where at a 3 of 5 and were doing fine to preserve the score cushion. The sceond quarter started more balanced than the first period. Both defenses stepped up and maintained the scoring rather low, as in minute 15, Robert Witka's layup for the hosts made it 21-27 for Brose Baskets just one minute after Alex Harris had finally dropped Turow's first three in eight attempts. Damir Miljkovic soon added a new bomb for the hosts and the score was 24-27 as Brose Baskets had been scoreless for almost three minutes. Robert Garrett finally broke the spell from the arc, and that seemed to launch Brose Baskets as the guests were soon leading by 10 points again, 25-35, after a new triple by Predrag Suput. The first half came to an end when Miljkovic blasted a new three-pointer for the hosts to leave a 28-36 scoreboard at the break.
Things couldn't be more different when the third quarter started. Turow was a steamroller en route to a 14-0 run that turned things around in less than five minutes. Miljkovic and Bryan Bailey opened the party with respective threes and then John urek had three points of his own to put Turow ahead, 37-36. But that didn't stop there as Krzysztof Roszyk blasted a new bomb that allowed the hosts to be leading by 42-26 in minute 25. Brose Baskets finally reacted through Eric Taylor's three-point shot, but the game's trend had already changed. The guests were still shooting a 63% from the arc with 7 of 11, but Turow pressed hard on defense and little by little, the hosts solidified their lead. Michael Jordan tried to prevent Turow from gaining a bigger lead but Witka's three to close the third period allowed the hosts to dominate by 53-47 after 30 minutes. The last period started as a reflection of the third, when Turow stormed in with a 7-0 capped by Miljkovic's layup that made it 60-47. It was in minute 33 when Tim Ohlbrecht stroke back for Brose Baskets, but Witka and Miljkovic made sure that the edge the hosts were holding on the scoreboard was safe. Greene and Ohlbrecht tried to keep Brose Baskets alive but Dragisa Drobnjak lifted a layup to seal the deal for a 65-56 entering the last minute.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Eurocupbasketball.com