By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With an amazing comeback in the second quarter (19-0 run, 30-6) after being down by 17 points, Filou Oostende got the on-the-road 76-72 win in Turkey against Bahcesehir to go up in the Play-In series.
As expected, the best player on Dario Gjergja’s team was once again Breein Tyree, who was the highest scorer of his side with 16 points despite shooting 5/14 FG.
He gave his team the win with one late free throw, with Vrenz Bleijenbergh grabbing the 17th rebound of his double-double night after scoring 14.
Rising star Keye van der Vuurst de Vries, who was averaging 7.8 points and 7.0 assists per game in his four BCL trips to Turkey before today, had 5 points and 7 assists. Tre’shawn Thurman added 11 points off the bench.
Jerry Boutsiele, who has now grabbed more than five rebounds in each of his 13 games in the BCL, was solid yet again under the basket, with 17 points and 8 rebounds.
With Jamar Smith being out of shape (6 points, 2/10 FG but the three-pointer to temporarily tie things up), Kartal Ozmizrak stepped up and delivered 18 points. Berkay Candan added 14. However, those were just losing efforts.
Filou Oostende, who scored 21.7% of their points off fast break situations, the highest ratio in the BCL in
2022/23, before this game, was the better team at grabbing rebounds (41 vs 24) and scoring in the paint (32 vs 26).
The winner of this best-of-three series (G2 on 10/01) will face Telekom Baskets Bonn, BAXI Manresa, and the winner of the series between Rytas Vilnius or PAOK, which Game 1 was won by the Lithuanians 85-62, in Group J of the Round of 16.
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League