2006-07Regular SeasonRound 6
November 30, 2006 CET: 19:45
Local time: 19:45 OLIVIA SPORT HALL

Tau Ceramica pulled past Prokom Trefl 70-75

Tau Ceramica survived a tough battle to retain a share of first place in Group A when it pulled past Prokom Trefl 70-75 in Sopot, Poland on Thursday. Tau improved to 5-1 in the Group A standings, tied with Olympiacos at the top, while Prokom dropped to 2-4, alongside RheinEnergie in sixth place. Serkan Erdogan led the winners with 17 points, while a pair of Tau's big men posted double-doubles. Luis Scola had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Tiago Splitter 14 and 12, respectively. Zoran Planinic added 11 points and Igor Rakocevic 10 for Tau. Donatas Slanina had 17 points for Prokom, Christian Dalmau added 13 and Huseyin Besok 11. It was a balanced game in the opening half, as a layup by Planinic gave Tau a 35-36 edge at the break. Erdogan and Splitter allowed Tau to get a 52-62 lead after 30 minutes, but Prokom rallied and Slanina tied it at 65-65 with 3 minutes to go. Splitter, Erdogan and Scola shined in crunch time, while free throws by Erdogan and Rakocevic sealed the outcome in the final seconds.

Masiulis opened the scoring with a jumper off the glass, but on the other side couldn't stop Scola, who made a layup. Prokom forced the game inside early as Masiulis and Besok combined for their team's 10 points. Meanwhile, Tau counted more on its outside players. Planinic scored on drives, while Rakocevic landed consecutive triples. Following the second of them, Tau led 9-12 and took control from there. Scola made 2 layups in a row before Slanina finally responed with a jumper. But just few seconds later Rakocevic drilled his third bomb from downtown for Tau's biggest lead yet, 14-22. Tau's full-court defense forced Prokom into may mistakes, but finally the hosts were able to cut the gap on Michael Andersen's layup to 18-23 after one quarter.

Tau opened the second quarter with Erdogan burying a triple to extend the lead to 18-27. When it was 21-29, Prokom needed a timeout, from which it came out playing much faster. Dalmau scored 5 consecutive points and forced Tau to take timeout now. The teams played basket for basket aftter that, with Prokom using rebounds to cut the gap until Filip Dylewicz made a three-point play to even the score at 33-33. Missed free throws, a pair each by Dalmau and Jasmin Hukic, cost Prokom a chance to take the lead, so Erdogan and Planinic helped Tau escape to a 35-39 lead at the half.

Fred House hit a bomb from a downtown for Tau to open the third quarter, but then Prokom took control. The hosts used a 7-0 blast to equal the score again, 42-42, following a three-point play, this time from Slanina. Again, however, Prokom lost a chance to go ahead again, as Tau instead responded with a 0-6 run. Erdogan kept things going for the guests, scoring 5 consecutive points to open a 47-55 advantage. Meanwhile, Tau's defense limited Prokom inside while the hosts struggled to his outside shots. When Mirsa Teletovic hopped off the visitors' bench to hit a triple, Tau had its first double-digit advantage, 48-58. Both teams traded basket before the period finished with scoreboard showing 52-62.

While Tau seemed to have the game under control, Prokom came out for the fourth quarter with comeback fever. With strengthened defense that forced Tau into turnovers, Prokom held the visitors scoreless for almost 5 minutes while using triples by Slanina and Rashid Atkins to forget a 9-0 run that cut the difference to a single point, 61-62. Finally, Scola scored from the line and from inside for Tau, but Prokom stayed just a step behind. Nervousness took over as both teams made mistakes on fastbreaks. Slanina equalled the score again 65-65 by making both his attempts from the line, but the next few minutes belonged to Tau. The guests used a 1-7 run to take final control. Scola was on target again, but Erdogan's triple appeared to be the most important basket of the game. Prokom was unable to execute and scored only on free throws. Slanina finally made a jumper and gave the home fans some hope at 68-72 with possession following a Tau turnover. Both teams were sent to the foul line, but Tau kept a safe advantage by shooting better free throws down the stretch until Rakocevic sealed a 70-75 victory.

Thursday, November 30, 2006
Euroleague.net
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Referees: PITSILKAS, NIKOLAOS; RYZHYK, BORYS; PATERNICO, CARMELO
Attendance: 5200
By Quarter1234
Prokom Trefl Sopot18171718
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz20162613
End of Quarter1234
Prokom Trefl Sopot18355270
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz20366275
Prokom Trefl Sopot
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 HUKIC, JASMIN 20:00 2 1/3 0/3 0/2 1 1 2 1 1 1     3 1 -4
5 ATKINS, RASHID 19:15 5 0/2 1/3 2/4       2 2 2 1     3 5
6 HAMILTON, JUSTIN 25:45 2 1/1 0/3   1 2 3 2 1 2 1   1 1 4
7 MASIULIS, TOMAS 29:00 9 4/4 0/2 1/2   4 4   2 1     3 1 9
8 DYLEWICZ, FILIP 8:00 3 1/1   1/1 1 1 2 1 1   1     1 9
9 DALMAU, CHRISTIAN 28:00 13 3/6 2/4 1/4 1 1 2 2 3 3     4 3 8
10 WOJCIK, ADAM 16:00 6 2/7   2/5   2 2     1     3 3 -1
12 BESOK, HUSEYIN 20:30 11 2/3   7/7 2 3 5 2 1 2     4 5 17
13 SLANINA, DONATAS 27:00 17 5/6 1/5 4/5 1 4 5 3   1     3 5 20
14 ANDERSEN, MICHAEL 6:30 2 1/1     1   1           3    
17 ZAMOJSKI, PRZEMYSLAW DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 NORDGAARD, JEFF DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                   1           1
Totals 200:00 70 20/34 4/20 18/30 8 18 26 13 12 13 3 0 24 23 68
        58.8% 20% 60%
Head coach: KIJEWSKI, EUGENIUSZ
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
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 SCOLA, LUIS 28:00 15 7/13   1/3 1 9 10 2 1 4     3 4 17
5 PRIGIONI, PABLO 17:45     0/3         2 3 3     2   -3
7 CILLA, JESUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 RAKOCEVIC, IGOR 20:00 10 0/2 3/5 1/2   1 1     2   1 2 2 3
10 PLANINIC, ZORAN 28:45 11 5/6 0/1 1/4 1   1 5   1     2 4 13
11 ERDOGAN, SERKAN 28:15 17 1/3 3/5 6/6 1   1     2   1 3 4 12
12 TELETOVIC, MIRZA 14:00 3   1/3     2 2 1         3   1
14 PEKER, KAYA 6:15   0/1                     4   -5
20 ESLAVA, ARIEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 SPLITTER, TIAGO 31:30 14 5/5   4/9 5 7 12 2   1     4 7 25
32 HOUSE, FRED 25:30 5 0/1 1/2 2/2   3 3 2 3 1   1   3 12
Team                     1         -1
Totals 200:00 75 18/31 8/19 15/26 8 22 30 14 7 15 0 3 23 24 74
        58.1% 42.1% 57.7%
Head coach: PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

KIJEWSKI, EUGENIUSZ
Prokom Trefl Sopot
"It was our best game in the Euroleague, although we lost. Erdogan made the most important basket of the evening, hitting a triple. We should have defended that play, but he was wide open. On the last possessions, we wanted to play for Atkins because he is our fastest player. It partly worked out, because he was fouled, but he missed from the line. Finally, we played like we wanted - details decided the result - but I think that we are much closer to our best form. The last two games we lost on late possessions and it complicates our situation. We should have won at least one of these two matches, so now we have to grab a spectacular away victory. I hope it's going to be next week at Climamio."
PERASOVIC, VELIMIR
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz
"We expected a tough game, because Prokom is tough to beat at home. We didn't play well on defense in the first half against their outside players. After the break , we played much better. We played consistently and forced the game inside. We were up by 10, but we let Prokom come back. Fortunately, they made more mistakes down the stretch and we executed. It was a very important victory, we just cannot lose such games."

Players

DYLEWICZ, FILIP
Prokom Trefl Sopot
"I regret that we did not end this game with a success. Today, Tau was a team that we could have beaten. We committed many stupid turnovers at the end, moreover we did not make our free throws, so the victory went to Tau. We did not take advantage of our chances. We had many open shots we could have made, unfortunately we did not do it. Our opponent committed fewer mistakes and won the game."
SPLITTER, TIAGO
Tau Ceramica Vitoria-Gasteiz
"We expected a hard game and we were right. We have had to fight all game to achieve the win. Now we are happy. I would like to thank my teammates: our teamwork was very good today. This victory is very important for us. It makes us closer to the Top 16."
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