Trento holds off Bursaspor to remain unbeaten

Dolomiti Energia Trento remained undefeated in the 7DAYS EuroCup by surviving a comeback battle to win 89-80 against winless Frutti Extra Bursaspor. Trento had a 20-point lead in the first quarter, but lost almost all of it by midway through the second quarter and fought off Bursaspor to move to 5-0 in Group D. Kelvin Martin led the way with 22 points while JaCorey Williams had 18 points and 7 rebounds, Jeremy Morgan scored 16 points and Gary Browne had 9 points and 7 assists. Bursaspor is now 0-4 and still waiting for its maiden victory in the competition. Oguz Savas collected 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Birkan Batuk scored 15 points and Metin Turen picked up 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Martin scored 5 points as Trento opened a 7-0 lead early on. A Maxim Mutaf three-pointer made it 11-5 before Williams and Morgan combined for 13 points in an 18-4 surge to go up 29-9. Ender Arslan and Batuk knocked down back-to-back triples as the visitors cut it to 29-17 and trailed 30-17 after 10 minutes. Bursaspor started strong in the second quarter as Turen and Savas came off the bench to combine for all 10 points in a 0-10 run to pull within 30-27. Luke Maye’s three-pointer after almost 4 minutes finally got Trento on the board. Morgan followed with 3 free throws and a triple to keep Trento ahead after Bursaspor pulled within 36-33. Browne drained 3 consecutive triples to close the first half at 50-37.

Martin downed a three-pointer early in the third quarter to push the margin to 55-39. Savas continued his strong game with 5 points only to have Toto Forray hit back-to-back three-pointers for a 61-47 Trento gap. The guests would not go away with 4 points from Turen and a pair of triples from Batuk to get to within 63-59. But Victor Sanders ended the period with a triple for the hosts and Trento was up 66-59 after 30 minutes. Arslan opened the fourth quarter before Martin pushed the cushion to 70-61. Bursaspor had a good stretch with Kenny Kadji and Batuk bookending a 5-13 surge with triples to get the margin to 75-73 with 4 minutes left to play. A Morgan three-pointer to make it 81-73 was followed by two scores from Savas to get the margin down to 4 points. But Martin responded with two layups and a jumper in a 6-0 spurt to go ahead 87-77 and decide the game.

Offensive explosion

Kelvin Martin’s bread and butter is defense, but he showed against Bursaspor that he can score, too. He came into the Round 6 game having tallied a total of 20 points in four games. Then he exploded against the Turkish team for 22 points, attempting 17 shots after having shot the ball only 22 times from the field before the game. Martin’s 22 points and index rating of 16 both were career-highs.

Fountain of youth

Time seemed to have gone back five or 10 years as Oguz Savas bordered on unstoppable. He totaled 21 points - on 9-of-14 shooting - 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block for an index rating of 30. The 21 points were the most he scored in a European game since he matched that number in a December 2011 EuroLeague game. The now 33-year-old had 14 points in his team’s last game - the first time Savas has scored in double figures in back-to-back games since Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2011-12 EuroLeague season for Fenerbahce.

Telling numbers

Trento committed only 6 turnovers and shot 41.4% on three-pointers compared to 34.6% from deep for Bursaspor. Trento also connected on 17 of 21 free throws to 7 of 10 for Bursaspor.

Next games

Trento will look to remain undefeated as it takes on Promitheas Patras on the road on Wednesday, November 11. Bursaspor’s next chance for its first victory in the competition will come at home where the team will host Cedevita Olimija Ljubljana on the same evening.