Hamburg dominates Turk Telekom to get third straight win

Hamburg Towers had no trouble claiming a 94-74 home win against Turk Telekom Ankara at Edel-Optics Arena on Tuesday night. The home team built a 27-14 lead after 10 minutes, extended it to a 20-point margin shortly before halftime, and never looked back. It as Hamburg's third win in a row to improve to 4-5 in Group A. Turk Telekom snapped a two-game winning streak to drop to 5-4. Caleb Homesley signed off a terrific all-around performance by tallying 29 points on 7-for-10 three-point shooting, 11 rebounds and 6 assists for a career-high PIR of 45. He was well accompanied by Ray McCallum, who chipped in 21 points and dished 5 assists, and Seth Hinrich and Lukas Meisner, who scored 10 apiece. Anthony Clemmons led the way for Turk Telekom and provided 14 points, 8 assists and 5 steals, while Erdi Gulaslan added 11 points in defeat.

JaJuan Johnson started the visitors with back-to-back fadeaway jumpers to which Maik Kotsar replied to send Hamburg up 8-7. Clemmons connected from downtown to flip the lead again, but Homesley opened fire with a trey and McCallum followed with a pair of them within the same minute as Hamburg opened a 17-12 gap. The visitors fed Octavius Ellis in the paint but couldn't stop Hamburg's offensive firepower as McCallum filled half of a 10-0 run to make it 27-14 after 10 minutes. Meisner and McCallum extended the lead to 33-14 right once the game resumed. Can Ogut and Clemmons trimmed the difference from deep before Aubrey Dawkins and Gulaslan joined in the effort to make it 36-28 midway through the second quarter. Their joy didn't last, though, as Homesley took over with a couple of treys and a fastbreak layup in an 11-0 run that sent Hamburg up big again, 47-28. Meisner made it a 20-point margin with a layup soon after before a buzzer-beating triple by Ogut left a 50-34 halftime score.

Gulaslan came on strong after intermission with back-to-back triples that kept Turk Telekom in the game at 54-40, but within a minute Meisner and Homesley matched him to make it 60-40. The guests tried to react from the perimeter, but no one could match Homesley's impressive accuracy. He strung together his sixth and seventh three-pointers to make 71-45 before a couple of steals allowed the guests to enter the last stanza trailing 73-51. Berk Demir and Ellis combined to get Turk Telekom back within 20 points, 75-56, as Hamburg struggled to score for a while. Hinrichs eventually scored off an offensive rebound to settle the hosts and followed with an assist for Osaro Rich, who nailed his first three-pointer in the competition after just 19 seconds on the court. That was worth an 80-58 margin with still 6 minutes remaining but confirmed the name of the winner.

Homesley's magic night set the tone for Hamburg

Caleb Homesley proved again he is one of the most exciting newcomers of this season in the 7Days Eurocup and completed an impressive performance to lead his team to its third win in a row. The American guard flirted with the triple-double by scoring 29 points, grabbing 11 boards, and dishing 6 assists, good for a performance index rating of 45. All of those figures except the assists were highs for Homesley in his rookie EuroCup season. He also showed impressive accuracy from downtown, draining 7 three-pointers in 10 attempts.

Strong first-half runs boosted Hamburg

The home team used a couple of strong runs to finish both the first and second quarters with margins that Turk Telekom Ankara could never recover from. Trailing 11-12 midway through the first quarter, Hamburg managed to outscore the guests 16-4 over just 4 minutes to take a 27-14 edge after 10 minutes. Later, when Turk Telekom came within 36-28 in the second, Hamburg punished the visitors with a 13-1 spark that established a 20-point margin, 49-29, less than a minute before halftime.

Triples could not save Turk Telekom

Despite having a more than solid long-range shooting display (13-of-31 from three) and dishing 18 assists against Hamburg Towers, the visitors were held to just 74 points and could not recover from a 16-point halftime disadvantage at halftime. The home team never lost its double-digit margin after that, enjoying a comfortable journey in the second half. Bad shooting inside the arc (44.8%) and 17 turnovers made the difference in this game, as Hamburg exploited the visitors' mistakes to collect 13 steals that turned into 31 points, doubling Turk Telekom's 15 points off turnovers.