FoxTown Cantu used a huge second quarter to pull away en route to topping Pinar Karsiyaka 84-55, picking up its first win in the Last 32 on Wednesday night. Cantu holds the third place in Group I with 1-2 record, while Karsiyaka remains winless in the last place. With score tied 21-21 after the first quarter, Cantu went on a 21-2 run at the start of the second, building 52-27 halftime lead, before cruising to victory in the second half. Stefano Gentile paced the winners with 15 points. Adrian Uter had 11 points plus 7 rebounds, while, Michael Jenkins collected 10 points and 9 assists. Roberto Rullo and Pietro Aradori had 10 points apiece for Cantu which was missing its head coach Stefano Sacripanti on the bench, as Massimiliano Oldoini took his role for this game. Bobby Dixon led Karsiyaka with 13 points, Esteban Batista scored 11, and Baris Hersek finished with 10 in defeat.
Jenkins hit a pair of triples in the early going, helping Cantu to 12-5 lead. Karsiyaka replied with Batista scoring a basket-plus-foul, and Jon Diebler nailing a three for 14-15. Dixon and Hersek hit more triples for the visitors, but Gentile sank one from long range for Cantu, and Denis Marconato scored from close range for 21-21 after 10 minutes. Cantu started pulling away immediately in the second, with baskets from Marten Leunen and Marcel Jones, before a triple from Rullo started, and one from Awudu Abass ended a 15-0 run for 42-23 lead. Batista snapped Karsiyaka's drought with a dunk and a layup, but Uter and Aradori each had a triple, lifting the hosts to 52-27 halftime lead.
Baskets were few and far between in the third quarter. Dixon hit a triple, a pair of steals that led to his baskets and 54-37. Cantu did not score a field goal for more than 7 minutes before Rullo hit from downtown, and despite Dixon hitting another three-pointer for the visitors, baskets from Uter and Jenkins made it 63-40 after three quarters. In the fourth, Jones started things with a dunk, and after Gentile hit from long range, Jones nailed one as well, 71-41. More baskets from Jones and Awudu extended it to 77-43, and Gentile hit a triple for 80-45, biggest margin of the night, before Hersek and Akif Guven rounded out the scoring for Karsiyaka.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Eurocupbasketball.com