Parra, Tomic lead Joventut past Turk Telekom

Joventut Badalona got back to winning ways by defeating visiting Turk Telekom Ankara 76-67 at Palau Olimpic de Badalona on Wednesday night. Joventut improved to 3-1 in Group A, while Turk Telekom dropped to 2-2. Joventut took control in the first quarter, using 7 assists to open a 21-10 lead. It increased the margin to 17 points with a 12-0 run in the second quarter. Turk Telekom did not go away in the second half, but never got closer than 5 points. Joel Parra led Joventut with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Pau Ribas scored 12, Ante Tomic collected 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and Vladimir Brodziansky also scored 11. Aaron Harrison and JaJuan Johnson scored 17 apiece for Turk Telekom, and Aubrey Dawkins scored 10 in a losing effort.

Alex Perez hit an early corner triple for Turk Telekom, but Parra and Ribas combined to score 10 points to give the hosts a 10-4 advantage. Harrison and Johnson answered for the visitors to keep the margin from increasing, but Tomic and Simon Birgander extended it to 21-10. The hosts held a 10-point advantage after 10 minutes.

Tyler Ennis and Can Ogut cut into the deficit to open the second quarter and a dunk from Johnson and a three-pointer from Dawkins made it 29-24. Tomic dished to Derek Willis for a layup and Ribas scored 5 points, including a three-point play, to restore a double-digit lead, 36-26. Parra had a layup and a triple from Pep Busquets, Joventut's only in the first half, helped open a 43-26 advantage. Johnson's alley-oop snapped a 12-0 run and Joventut took a 43-29 lead into halftime.

Harrison opened the second half with a three-pointer and a jumper from Samet Geyik cut it to 45-36. But Parra scored twice, a layup and a jumper, to increase Joventut's lead again, 51-38. Ogut hit from long range for the visitors, but Parra answered with a corner three before Brodziansky made one from close range and one from long range, making it 59-45. Dawkins and Ogut cut it to 59-49 to end the third quarter.

A triple from Dawkins early in the fourth made it 62-53. Brodziansky scored with a nifty move inside, but Harrison had a triple and a jumper, getting the visitors within 65-57. The hosts replied with some great passing, first Ribas for a Tomic layup followed by Guillem Vives connecting with Brodziansky for an alley-oop dunk, but a steal and a layup from Perez got the visitors within 69-62. Tomic had a three-point play, but Turk Telekom was not going away and Johnson sank a baseline jumper. However, the visitors could not come any closer and Joventut closed it out.

By the numbers: Joventut racks up 26 assists

Joventut shot just 3 for 15 from long range, but it made up for a poor shooting night with some great passing; the hosts dished 26 assists. It was tied for the second-most assists Joventut ever had in a EuroCup game, behind only 30 assists the team dished against Guildford Heat in the 2007-08 season.

What's more important about this night, however, was that half of Joventut's team had a fine night passing the ball, with six different players dishing at least 3 assists. Veterans Pau Ribas and Ante Tomic led the way with 5 assists apiece, while Guillem Vives had 4 assists. Andres Feliz, Vladimir Brodziansky and Derek Willis each had 3 assists.

Pivotal performer: Parra sets career-highs

Joel Parra was not only Joventut's top scorer in Wednesday's victory over Turk Telekom, it was his best EuroCup game. This 21-year-old forward had 17 points and 8 rebounds, all on defense, and also dished 2 assists. All of those were career-highs as was Parra's performance index rating of 22.

Parra also seemed to have done it with ease. He looked confident shooting the ball from all ranges. His 7-of-9 two-point shooting included layups and a dunk, but also a long jumper. He nailed a corner triple, which was his last point of the game, with 3 minutes left in the third quarter. Parra did not score in the fourth quarter, which was also the quarter Joventut struggled offensively the most. This was the third game this season in which he scored 13 or more points.

Turk Telekom shows grit with comeback

Even though it played from behind for the entire night, Turk Telekom never went away. The visitors cut the deficit to single digits in the fourth quarter and when down 72-64 in the final 3 minutes of the game, Turk Telekom missed a fastbreak opportunity and a pair of three-pointers that could have turned the finish into a drama.