By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Icelanders put up another honorable fight but are ultimately overcome 111-102 by the Turks in the last game for Group B in Berlin.
More was at stake in this game with regards to the second place in Group B than for these two teams. And this was because no matter the final result, Turkey knew they were going through to the next phase and Iceland knew they weren’t. If Turkey lost, then Italy would be second. If they won, as was the case, then Spain would be second and Italy would drop down to third place.
Coming into this game, Turkey had won two and lost two. The two defeats were to Spain and Serbia and both were on the heavy side. The Icelanders had four consecutive losses, but, as bad as this sounds, it wasn’t an unexpected result for such an inexperienced team and they actually carried themselves pretty well, considering the circumstances and their opponents.
With this in mind, it would have been great if the Nordic team could have exited the tournament with a win but, alas, it wasn’t meant to be. The Turks buckled down and almost dropped 30 in the first quarter and, even though the second belonged to the Icelanders, when the two teams returned after the half time break, Turkey regained control. Pedersen’s team wasn’t going to go away so easily, though, and after fighting back in the fourth they took the game into overtime. In the end, the Turks were too strong for their opponents and they got the job done, bringing the game to an end with a 9-point margin.
For Ergin Ataman’s team, American born Bobby Dixon – aka Ali Muhammed – was the team’s top scorer with a whopping 28 points, also collecting 12 rebounds, and dishing 4 assists on the side. Cedi Osman racked up a nifty 22 points, 4 boards and 6 assists before fouling out. Ersan Ilyasova (6 rebounds, 6 assists) contributed 19 and Semih Erden (2 rebounds) added another 18.
On the other end, Jakob Sigurdarson (1 rebound, 2 assists) dropped 22 points and Haukur Palsson had another solid game with 18 points, 3 boards and 4 assists. Logi Gunnarsson (2 rebounds) scored 16 points and Jon Stefansson got another 14, plus 4 rebounds and 8 assists.