2007-08Regular SeasonRound 1
November 06, 2007 CET: 18:40
Local time: 19:40 VENTSPILS OLYMPIC CENTER

Besiktas Cola Turka began their ULEB Cup Group B campaign in fine fashion, picking up a 79-87 victory at BK Ventspils, who had developed themselves into a real ULEB Cup powerhouse in their own arena over the past couple years. Besiktas coach Ergin Ataman relied heavily on his starters and they came through as all five scored in double figures, led by 20 points from Preston Shumpert. Kaya Peker picked up a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Rick Apodaca had 17 points, Sandro Nicevic 16 and Christian Dalmau 15. The bench for the Turks tallied just five points. The difference in the game was Besiktas's defense, which forced the Latvians into 20 turnovers while committing just 10 themselves. Ventspils failed to take advantage of 23 points from Justin Love and 20 by Jimmy Baxter.

Neither side was able to pull away in the first quarter, which ended with the hosts ahead 20-19. Besiktas began taking advantage of Ventspils mistakes in the second period and opened an eight-point lead, 44-36, at the break. Gasper Okorn's team continued to struggle with their ball-handling out of the locker rooms, and the Turks made them pay for those mishaps, pushing the advantage to 68-54 going into the fourth. The Latvians saved some face and improved their play in the final period. But Ventspils had dug themselves too big of a hole.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007
ULEBCup.com
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Referees: OBRADOVIC, PETAR; NESKOVIC, DRAGAN; POGA, AINARS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
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Besiktas Cola Turka19252419
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Besiktas Cola Turka19446887
Ventspils
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 VESELOVS, PAVELS 19:05 4 1/4 0/1 2/2   3 3 1   1     3 2 2
5 VITOLS, AIGARS 8:58 5 1/3 1/2   2 1 3 1   2     3   1
7 GABRANS, RAIMONDS 32:16 12 1/2 3/5 1/2 1   1 5 1 1   1 4 2 11
8 AKINGBALA, AKIN 11:13 4 1/2   2/3 1   1     3     1 2 1
10 GILCHRIST, JOHN 7:44 2 1/2 0/1     1 1 1 1 1         2
12 LOVE, JUSTIN 35:47 23 4/5 4/7 3/5 1 5 6 6   1     4 5 29
14 CIPRUSS, KASPARS 18:47 2 1/2     2 5 7 1   2     1   6
22 BAXTER, JIMMY 30:21 20 3/6 4/5 2/2   5 5 2 2 4 1   1 3 24
32 STRELNIEKS, JANIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 VAIROGS, AKSELIS 8:12 2 1/2 0/1             1     1 1 -1
35 HELMANIS, UVIS 27:37 5 2/3 0/2 1/2 2 2 4 3   4     4 3 3
Team                                
Totals 200:00 79 16/31 12/24 11/16 9 22 31 20 4 20 1 1 22 18 78
        51.6% 50% 68.8%
Head coach: OKORN, GASPER
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
Besiktas Cola Turka
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 VEYSELOGLU, ERKAN 6:40           1 1               1
6 SHUMPERT, PRESTON 40:00 20 6/9 2/4 2/2   1 1 3 1       1 2 21
7 OZER, CEVHER 11:20 4 2/2 0/1   2   2     2     3    
9 DALMAU, CHRISTIAN 34:44 15 4/7 2/4 1/3   5 5 7 2 2     4 7 23
10 NICEVIC, SANDRO 35:29 16 5/10   6/6 2 2 4 2 3 5     3 6 18
11 AYDIN, ONUR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 SOGANCIOGLU, ARIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 BEYAZ, EREN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 PEKER, KAYA 26:10 14 6/11   2/5 4 6 10       1 1 4 3 15
22 APODACA, RICK 35:42 17 7/15 1/3   3 4 7 4 4 1     2 2 21
32 GULER, SINAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
41 YAGMUR, MEHMET 9:55 1     1/2 2   2           1 2 3
Team                                
Totals 200:00 87 30/54 5/12 12/18 13 19 32 16 10 10 1 1 18 22 102
        55.6% 41.7% 66.7%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

OKORN, GASPER
Ventspils
"As I have said before, Besiktas has five players who have played in Euroleague and they all form the starting five of this team. We had to stop those five players but we failed. Half of my team was not ready to play defense this evening, if we only look at the boxscore then we can see that we shot 50% from the long distance hitting 20 out of 40, we dished out 20 assists but still we suffered a loss. It’s all defense. Today we played our defense without thinking. Their starting five dropped 82 points... we could not stop any of them. Every time we had an opportunity to break the game they grabbed a rebound and we made another turnover. You can't win a team like Besiktas if you commit 21 turnovers. Now we have to analyze this game and try to deal with our problems in defense."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Besiktas Cola Turka
"We showed good defense and were able to penetrate the ball both inside and outside, as well as got easy baskets on the fastbreaks in the second and third quarters. Ventspils finished with good shooting percentage from the arc which was a surprise for us, for in the previous games they did not shoot so well. We didn’t expect also that Justin Love would have such a good game but today he was great. We came here for the win and managed to secure it. Our aim is to get the first position in our group and make it to the quarterfinals. The score does not show the actual game and no team will have easy time against Ventspils on their home court."

Players

LOVE, JUSTIN
Ventspils
"Besiktas is a good team and we knew that they would play hard. We had a bad start and were not able to take the lead throughout the game. Every time we cut the difference they found easy lay-ups preventing us to break the game to our side."
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