2019-20Top 16Round 3
Joventut Badalona 88
Tofas Bursa 84
January 22, 2020 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 PALAU BLAUGRANA

Prepelic leads Joventut to comeback win

Joventut Badalona defended its makeshift home court by gaining an exciting 88-84 comeback victory over Tofas Bursa, leaving both teams at 2-1 in Group H. The game was staged at FC Barcelona’s Palau Blaugrana due to weather damage to Joventut’s arena, and offered a high-tempo and closely-contested spectacle. Tofas established a double-digit lead before the break but Joventut roared back in the third quarter. The lead then regularly swung back and forth before Klemen Prepelic led the host to victory. Prepelic netted a career-high 37 points on 5-of-9 three-point shooting, also converting all 12 of his free throw attempts and dishing 7 assists for a PIR of 45, the best in this season’s EuroCup. Conor Morgan scored 13 points and Joel Parra added 11 in victory. Sammy Mejia paced Tofas by making 4 of his 5 three-point attempts in a total of 20 points. Berkan Durmaz added 17 points and Devin Williams scored 15.

Prepelic made a fast start with a long two and a deep three, answered by Berk Ugurlu and Williams from close range. Tarik Phillip also struck from beyond the arc but 4 fast points from Morgan and another Prepelic triple kept Joventut ahead. Both teams continued to score freely and Tofas took its first lead, 16-18, with a pair of baskets from Williams. Joventut regained the advantage through Morgan’s threeball, but Durmaz helped make it 21-24 at the end of the first. DJ White’s big dunk extended Tofas’s lead early in the second, and deep strikes from Arturs Zagars and Parra were answered by Mejia’s three-pointer, Muhsin Yasar’s layup and White’s free throws, making it 27-35. Perrin Buford and Ugurlu traded triples before Williams made it a double-digit game. Durmaz and Yasar scored inside to protect that advantage, and it was 39-48 at the break. Kerem Kanter’s powerful slam and Morgan’s triple highlighted Joventut’s 9-0 start to the second half, tying the game at 48-48, before Ugurlu snapped that run with a driving layup. Kanter and Williams scored inside before Parra and Mejia netted from long-range, and another Parra triple gave Joventut its first lead since the first quarter, 62-60. That didn’t last long as Mejia beat the shot clock from deep, before Prepelic made a three-point play and White responded from deep to give the visitors a 67-68 edge with one quarter remaining. Mejia’s fourth three-pointer was answered by two more deep strikes from Prepelic, making it 73-71. Phillip tied it with a tip-in, but Alen Omic dunked and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui drained a triple dunked as Joventut edged ahead. Williams made a three-point play and Durmaz forced another tie, 78-78. Omic banked home a long two and Prepelic hit another threeball for an 83-78 lead with 2 minutes left. Mejia’s floater made it a one-possession game, but Prepelic was given three free throws by Phillip’s foul and Joventut’s hero took full advantage, making them all to ice the game.

Prepelic sets the tone early

Klemen Prepelic set the tone early on for another high-scoring display as he made a lightening start for Joventut, scoring the first 5 points for the home team and 8 of the first 12. That provided the springboard for a career night as he finished with 37 points, a club record and the joint-highest tally in this season’s EuroCup (Alessandro Gentile also scored 37 for Dolomiti Energia Trento in December). His PIR of 45 was the best in this season’s competition, and another club record.

Joventut battles back on the boards

Tofas dominated the boards in the first half, winning the rebounding battle 9-18 before the break. But Joventut competed much better in the second half, and the action ended much closer with Joventut taking 25 rebounds and Tofas 30.

Long bombs fall

Both teams enjoyed excellent shooting nights from beyond the arc, with Joventut making 14-of-29 three-pointers (48.3%) and Tofas converting 8 of its 17 attempts from long-range (47.1%). Prepelic (5-of-9) and Sammy Mejia (4-of-5) led the way for their respective teams, while Conor Morgan and Joel Parra both made a trio of triples for Joventut.

Next round

The teams will meet again Round 4, with their rematch taking place in Bursa next Tuesday.

Klemen Prepelic - Joventut Badalona (photo David Grau - Joventut) - EC19
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Eurocupbasketball.com
Referees: MANTYLA, PETRI; MAJKIC, MARIO ; TSAROUCHA, VASILIKI
Attendance: 1221
By Quarter1234
Joventut Badalona21182821
Tofas Bursa24242016
End of Quarter1234
Joventut Badalona21396788
Tofas Bursa24486884
Joventut Badalona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 BUFORD, PERRIN 19:12 5 1/3 1/1   1 1 2 1   1 1   2   4
4 PARRA, JOEL 13:31 11   3/3 2/2 1   1 1         2 1 12
6 LOPEZ-AROSTEGUI, XABI 25:03 7 1/4 1/2 2/2 1 5 6 1 1     1 1 4 13
9 MORGAN, CONOR 26:11 13 1/1 3/7 2/2   2 2 1   4     4 1 5
10 PREPELIC, KLEMEN 33:56 37 5/7 5/9 12/12 1 1 2 7   3     2 10 45
11 KANTER, KEREM 14:52 6 2/4 0/1 2/3   1 1   1     2 1 2 3
14 VENTURA, ALBERT 28:12   0/1 0/4     4 4 2 1       1   1
20 DA SILVA, VINICIUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 OMIC, ALEN 25:08 6 3/5       3 3 5 1 3     4 3 9
32 ZAGARS, ARTURS 13:55 3 0/1 1/2         2   2     4   -3
Team           3 1 4               4
Totals 200:00 88 13/26 14/29 20/21 7 18 25 20 4 13 1 3 21 21 93
        50% 48.3% 95.2%
Head coach: DURAN, CARLES
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
Tofas Bursa
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 MUSTAFA, MUHAYMIN 11:16 5 0/1 1/2 2/2   3 3           1 2 7
3 DURMAZ, BERKAN 26:53 17 7/9 0/1 3/3           1 1   2 2 14
5 UGURLU, BERK 27:20 7 2/3 1/4     2 2 7   2     4 2 8
7 TUNA, BATIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 WHITE, DJ 15:22 7 1/5 1/2 2/2 1 2 3 2   1       1 7
9 MEJIA, SAMMY 27:22 20 2/2 4/5 4/5 2 3 5 5 2 3 1     6 34
10 SATIR, BORA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
22 PHILLIP, TARIK 28:48 7 2/4 1/1   1 2 3 5 1 2     5 4 11
24 LOJESKI, MATT 24:14   0/1 0/2     3 3 3 1 3     2   -1
41 WILLIAMS, DEVIN 24:30 15 7/13   1/1 3 4 7 2 1 2   1 3 2 15
77 YASAR, MUHSIN 14:15 6 2/3   2/3           1 1   4 2 2
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 84 23/41 8/17 14/16 9 21 30 24 5 15 3 1 21 21 101
        56.1% 47.1% 87.5%
Head coach: ENE, ORHUN

Head Coaches

DURAN, CARLES
Joventut Badalona

“Incredible game! Two days before the game it was impossible to play in our court, two hours before the game two players couldn’t play against a great team. Tofas played very well in the first half, but in the second half we played very aggressive on defense and very well on offense. I’m happy for my team because this is an important win and now we look to the next challenge. The most important thing is the team, not one player or another player – the most important is the team and in the second half we played very well. Great victory, after three games we have won two games at home, and now it’s important to try to win in Bursa. It’s difficult but a great opportunity for us.”

“In the first half we only played offense, but in the second half we played basketball – trying to defend full court and push every time. The attitude on defense was very different, and in the last quarter the defense was incredible. Congratulations to my team and our fans, and thank you to Barca.”

ENE, ORHUN
Tofas Bursa
“First of all, I cannot say we played a good game. We had good moments during the game but in the crucial times, at the start of the third quarter for example, we lost all the advantage. It’s not easy to play against Badalona because they have good organisation and smart players who know how to get fouls. You need to play 25 seconds on defense with full concentration, and when we lost this concentration they became difficult players to defend because they can shoot the ball and you can get in foul trouble. We talked about it before the game, but we allowed Prepelic to score 37 points and this is not acceptable for us. We had three players who had been injured and didn’t practice and during the fame I saw they weren’t in rhythm, which caused ups and downs on offense. They tried their best but they need more time to find their rhythm. But this is a strong group and now we have two games in our home court. It’s important to focus and get better for the game against Badalona next week.”

Players

PREPELIC, KLEMEN
Joventut Badalona
“As I said at half-time, we had to keep our heads up and play better defence and rebounding. We kept them to 36 points in second half. We were struggling during all the month which is why we were losing games, but we had a speech at half-time and we have to understand this is the way to win games. We had a short rotation and I was trying to do my best. I had a great night but without the help of everybody – good screens and great passes at the right moment – I couldn’t do that. Basketball is a team sport and when the team does a great job, individuals come out also.”
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