By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Boosting chances to advance, Galatasaray Nef stopped Unicaja in the fourth quarter to win, 72-67, at Sinan Erdem Arena Thursday.
Running point for 36 minutes, Fatts Russell ended up with 15 points behind 6/18 field goals. Experienced forward Angelo Caloiaro recorded eight of his 15 points in the last ten minutes and also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds in the Gameday 4 affair of the Basketball Champions League Round of 16. Youngster Sadik Emir Kabaca scored 13 points, including a five-point effort in the fourth quarter.
A key 7-0 run to start the last period recovered the lead for the Lions. Limiting the visitors to four points through the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter provided an edge entering crunch time, narrowly enough to jump to 2-2 in Group K. The team coached by Andreas Pistiolis ended a five-game losing streak across all competitions with a second win in 11 games since late December.
A couple of days after earning a win in the first half of the doubleheader, Ibon Navarro’s side trailed for nearly 30 minutes in Istanbul. Still, a 6-0 sprint midway through the third quarter put them in front for large stretches of the period until the hosts took over in the fourth quarter. Dario Brizuela scoring all of his 12 points, a team-high, in the second half was insufficient to prevent the drop to 3-1. Nihad Djedovic stayed on the injury list for the 2023 Copa del Rey winners.
Postgame press conference
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League