2008-09Last 16Round 4
February 24, 2009 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 PALAVERDE

Benetton Basket became the second team to reach the Final Eight on Tuesday when it outlasted Turk Telekom 89-87 on Tuesday. C.J. Wallace converted a pair of offensive rebounds into points during a 10-1 fourth-quarter run that broke open a 71-71 tie and led Benetton to victory. Benetton improved to 4-0 in Group J with the win, while damaging Turk Telekom’s hopes of reaching the next stage. Telekom dropped to 1-3 and faces a tough test at second place Zadar next week. Wallace was one of six Benetton scorers in double figures with 10 points and 8 rebounds. Gary Neal led the charge with 17 points, Matteo Soragna shot 5 for 6 from downtown en route to 15 points, Andrea Renzi posted 13 points in 11 minutes, Domen Lorbek and Sandro Nicevic netted 10 each and Dashaun Wood orchestrated the attack with 7 assists. Michael Wright paced Telekom with 20 points, Rod Blakney added 16 and 4 assists, Serkan Erdogan scored 15 and dished 4 assists and Tutku Acik scored 10. The game was close for much of the night. Telekom led by 8 at one point earl, but Benetton came back and the scored was tied at 43-43 by halftime. The hosts led by 8 in the third quarter, but Telekom came back to take the lead. The fourth quarter featured two ties and two lead changes before Benetton's run. Even then, late threes by Acik and Baris Ozcan kept the visitors close, but Massimo Bulleri free throws iced the win for the hosts.

The game started with foul shots, first Erwin Dudley for Turk Telekom and then Wood for Benetton. Bekir Yarangume and Wright, off an Erdogan dish, put Ankara 2-5 up. Wright was tough to handle and Ozcan nailed 2 threes to make it 5-13 as Treviso could not find its range on offense. Wood and Wallace combined for 4 quick points off a timeout to bring the hosts within 4. Wright was the answer again before Renzi and Dudley had immediate impact when they checked in. Kris Lang got in the act too with a put-back, but Lorbek roared with back-to-back triples to get his team within 17-19 after 10 minutes. Renzi opened the second quarter, but Blakney hit a triple for the visitors. The big men were shining as the score stayed tight. Nicevic gave Benetton its first lead since the first minute, but Wright made a three-point play, good for a 25-27 score. Soragna, with a triple, Bulleri and Lorbek combined for a 6-0 spurt before Blakney fixed the score at 31-29 for Treviso. Neal matched Erdogan's three and Renzi responded to Lang and added another put-back to take a 6-point lead. However, Blakney, with an open triple, and Erdogan, with consecutive jumpers, brought Ankara level at the half despite a three-point play by Renzi, 43-43.

It was a perfect second half start for the hosts with Soragna hitting from three and Wallace and Wood making it a 7-0 run before Lang scored a layup. Soragna kept firing in from behind the arc. Erdogan answered, but Neal added another one to make it 56-48. Blakney and Erdogan drilled three-pointers, but Neal took over the Treviso offense to retain a 7-point edge. Some poor decision-making on both end of the court from Treviso let Ankara back within 2 at 61-59. Blakney and Acik converted back-to-back triples to silence the crowd, but captain Soragna beat the buzzer to keep Treviso in front 66-65 before the decisive last 10 minutes. Acik stripped Bulleri and scored a layup. Then Neal drained a three and Dudley tied it at 69. Bulleri finally found his mark and led his team to a 6-point lead with Wallace working hard on the offensive glass and scoring two put-backs. Sunter was forced to call timeout at 77-71 and five minutes to go. However, Soragna added another of his triples to get Treviso up 81-72. The hosts maintained their advantage until the last minute when Wright made a three-point play and Acik added a three to get back within 3 with 38 seconds to play. Yarangume had a chance to tie it from the corner, but he missed and Bulleri sealed the game from the line to qualify for the Final Eight.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Fabrice Turmel, Treviso
No results found.
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; JASEVICIUS, TOMAS; KRAUSE, OLIVER
Attendance: 2632
By Quarter1234
Benetton Basket17262323
Turk Telekom19242222
End of Quarter1234
Benetton Basket17436689
Turk Telekom19436587
Benetton Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 WOOD, DASHAUN 25:21 9 2/6   5/6 2 2 4 7   1     1 4 17
7 SORAGNA, MATTEO 29:11 15 0/2 5/6     2 2 1 3 1     2 3 18
8 LORBEK, DOMEN 27:39 10 1/1 2/5 2/2   2 2 1 1       1 2 12
9 BULLERI, MASSIMO 14:39 5 1/5   3/4   1 1 3   2   1   2 3
10 NICEVIC, SANDRO 37:13 10 4/7   2/2 1 4 5 2   3 1   3 7 16
11 RULLO, ROBERTO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 SANDRI, DANIELE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 NEAL, GARY 34:59 17 1/4 4/6 3/4   2 2 3   1     1 3 17
15 WOJCIECHOWSKI, JAKUB DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
16 CAZZOLATO, NICOLO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 WALLACE, C.J. 19:57 10 5/6 0/4   3 5 8 1 4 2     4 2 14
19 RENZI, ANDREA 11:01 13 6/7   1/1 3   3   1 1     2 1 14
Team                                
Totals 200:00 89 20/38 11/21 16/19 9 18 27 18 9 11 1 1 14 24 111
        52.6% 52.4% 84.2%
Head coach: MAHMUTI, OKTAY
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Turk Telekom
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 BLAKNEY, RODERICK 31:16 16 2/2 4/7   1 1 2 4 1 1     2 1 18
5 ERDOGAN, SERKAN 24:31 15 3/6 3/5   1 4 5 5 1 1     2   18
6 ERMIS, BARIS 0:16                              
7 WRIGHT, MICHAEL 35:53 20 8/12   4/5 2 2 4   2 2   1 3 6 21
9 YARANGUME, BEKIR 21:31 2 1/1 0/3   1 3 4 3 2 2     4   2
11 ACIK, TUTKU 17:41 10 1/2 2/6 2/2 1   1 1 1 1     2 3 8
12 OZCAN, BARIS 20:17 9 0/1 3/6     3 3 2         3   7
21 AKPINAR, MUTLU 6:07     0/1                   1   -2
35 DUDLEY, ERWIN 23:58 9 4/9   1/2 3 5 8 1   1     5 2 8
42 LANG, KRIS 18:30 6 3/4     1 1 2     3 1   2 2 5
55 PARS, ASIM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                                
Totals 200:00 87 22/37 12/28 7/9 10 19 29 16 7 11 1 1 24 14 85
        59.5% 42.9% 77.8%
Head coach: SUNTER, ERCUMENT

Head Coaches

MAHMUTI, OKTAY
Benetton Basket
"I think the most important thing is that we reached the Final Eight. This was our aim. Some people did not give us much credit, but we worked hard with the players and staff to make it. As for the game, we tried to be as focused as we could after two tough cup games. We were a bit tired, but we still managed to get the win. I think my team could have done a little bit more on defense, but we should all forget about this and enjoy the qualification. In my opinion, a club like Benetton deserves to play in the finals at the end of the season."

Players

WALLACE, C.J.
Benetton Basket
"For sure we knew we were not going to win by 30 like in the first game, because you can’t win games at this level by 30 all the time, especially because if they had won they would still have had a big chance to finish second. I don’t think we played as well as we could, but we made a couple of runs when we had to and won it. We’re excited, our goal was to go to the Final Eight and to accomplish that goal is a great feeling, especially after just four games."
LANG, KRIS
Turk Telekom
"Tonight we came out and played with a lot of heart. We played good defense, but in the end they made some tough shots to get the win."
No results found.