By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It was a tense, it was breathtaking and in the end it was a win for Turkey over Italy (89-87). Danilo Gallinari scored 33 points but it was not enough, while Semih Erden led the winners with 22 points.
With one minute to go, Marco Belinelli made it a one point game (85-84) with a three but Ersan Ilyasova answered with a goal foul and gave to Turkey a four point lead (88-84). Luigi Datome made a two pointer (88-86), naturalized point guard Bobby Dixon lost the ball and with 7 seconds to go, Gallinari went to the free throw line after being fouled by Cedi Osman. Gallinari made 1/2 free throws (88-87), Erden got the rebound and was also fouled. The Turkish center lost also one free throw (89-87) and with six seconds left Italy couldn’t do anything better than a long shot almost from the center of the court by Belinelli.
Dixon (aka Ali Muhammed) had 17 points and 9 rebounds, while Osman added 12 points. Belinelli had 14 points and Andrea Bargnani and Alessandro Gentile added 12 each for Italy.