Let’s recap the highlights of the game that took part on September 4. Türk Telekom time after time was ahead Loko midway through each quarter (8:9, 26:28, 49:51, 63:68), but our guys reclaimed the lead or at least tied the score by the end of each quarter (18:15, 41:38, 55:55, and 81:77).
The game’s top scorer was Kassius Robertson (17 points, including 5 of 6 three-pointers), Anton Kvitkovskikh and Jeremiah Martin each scored 14 points, and Patrick Miller added 6 assists to his 11 points.
The opposing team’s top scorer was #30 Chris Bankston (15); #8 Jordan Usher had 14 points, #6 Ata Kahraman had 13, and #18 Doğus Özdemiroğlu made 11 points and 5 assists. Also worth noting was #9 Jaleen Smith, who didn’t score any points but had 6 rebounds and 7 assists.
The following day, September 5, Türk Telekom lost to Trabzonspor (79:85), defeated Merkezefendi (80:67) on September 7, inflicted another defeat on Merkezefendi (94:67) on September 11, and gained revenge against Trabzonspor (79:75) on the 13th.
The Turkish club is keeping the statistics of the aforementioned matches undisclosed, but we do know the details of the first semifinal, in which Türk Telekom defeated Greek side Maroussi 86:82.
The Greeks took a slight lead early on, but made a powerful spurt late in the 2nd quarter and went into the break leading 47:31. After the game resumed, the Turkish team immediately began to gradually recover, reducing the margin to 4 points by the end of the 3rd quarter (57:61), and then made a 15:5 run in the next five minutes, allowing them to take the lead and hold it until the very end.
Türk Telekom shot poorly from beyond the arc that day – 3/24, 12.5% (in the first game against Lokomotiv, they were 10/20). However, they significantly outrebounded Maroussi (36-27, including a 14-4 offensive rebound margin) and steals (11-6).
Bankston made the biggest impact that evening: 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block. Smith scored 13 points and made 5 assists. Another 14 points were scored by #11 center Marko Simonović, who didn’t play against us on September 4th because he was with the Montenegrin national team at the EuroBasket, where he was second, behind only Nikola Vučević, in efficiency (11.8) with 8.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists.
Simonović isn’t the only player who came to Türk Telekom from the Montenegrin national team. The other is naturalised American #1 shooting guard Kyle Allman. At the EuroBasket, he posted stats of 10.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.0 steals. Against Maroussi, Allman played 20 minutes, scoring 5 points, and recording 2 assists and 2 steals.
During the break between matches against Merkezefendi, Türk Telekom also announced a contract extension with #7 power forward Kyle Alexander. However, the likelihood of seeing the Canadian on the court against Lokomotiv is slim to none, as he was not yet available on the day of the game against Maroussi.
Now let’s talk about the tournament in which Lokomotiv Kuban is participating. The cup (Ankara Yalçın Efe), is named after Yalçın Efe, a significant figure in Ankara basketball. He was a national-level referee for many years, and after retiring from refereeing, he spent 16 years as the administrative director of Türk Telekom, the tournament’s organizer.
The game will begin at 6:15 PM on September 20. No video broadcast is scheduled, but you can follow the game on our club’s social media.