By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Powered by a couple of wins at home, Tofas Bursa made it to 2-0 to get in charge of the Basketball Champions League Round of 16 Group J. After rallying past Darussafaka in the all-Turkish affair last week, the team coached by Ahmet Caki prevailed against Baxi Manresa Wednesday.
“This is just the second game in the group. We have four more games,” pointed out the Turkish play-caller, “We want to qualify to the next round.”
The team from Bursa will also host NutriBullet Treviso at Tofas Niluger Spor Salonu. The remaining schedule features visits at Treviso, Manresa, and Darussafaka. At the end of the day, the top two teams will progress to the Quarterfinals, the last step before the season-ending Final Four.
Enter Ahmet Caki
Caki, 46, reunited with Tofas in November. Under his guidance, the Turkish club stayed on top of Group F over SIG Strasbourg, Filou Oostende, and Kalev/Cramo, to move from the Regular Season to the Round of 16 for the second season in a row. From there, a 2-0 start got a head start compared to the other teams vying for a spot in the Quarterfinals.
The former boss of Darussafaka, Anadolu Efes, and Alba Berlin, previously was in charge of Tofas between 2012 and 2014. Since launching the second stint, he has recorded ten wins in 14 games between the Champions League and Turkey’s BSL, including seven straight victories in 2022. Besides leading Round of 16 Group J, his side climbed up to fifth in the BSL standings backed by the 12-7 W-L tally.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game, defensive game. They fight and we want to fight at our home court. It was that kind of game,” he explained regarding the most recent win, “In the first and third quarter, we had problems in our offense against Baxi Manresa’s pressure defense. But we kept going on the defensive side. That’s why we stayed in the game. I can say we won this game by fighting in defense, controlling the rebounds, and sharing the ball in the offense. It was a great game.”
Striving for success
The two-time Turkey champions and three-time Turkish Cup winners introduced themselves to the Basketball Champions League in 2020-21. The 4-2 run in Regular Season Group B topped the standings over BCL standouts ERA Nymburk and JDA Dijon. However, being held to 2-4 in Round of 16 Group I landed them in fourth place behind Hapoel U-NET Holon, Pinar Karsiyaka, and Happy Casa Brindisi.
The second time around seems much more promising, especially after quickly matching the two wins. Going up to 2-0, Croatian Tomislav Zubcic delivered 16 points, including a late dagger knocking down Manresa. Recent addition Tyler Ennis scored 12 of his 15 points in the back-and-forth fourth quarter.
“Everybody fought. Everybody contributed. We lost our composure in a couple of moments but we were able to hold on and finish the game,” said floor general Kasey Shepherd after chipping in ten points, seven assists, three steals, and two rebounds, “Happy about the win. Continue to get better as a team. Get ready for the next game.”
Injured Pako Cruz sat out Gameday 2. The Turkish portion of the roster, highlighted by captain Berk Ugurlu and Yigit Arslan, took care of most of the rest versus the visiting ACB outlet to capture a third consecutive win for the first time in the BCL.
Outscoring Manresa, 42-28, in the paint and forcing 20 turnovers to put up 28 points, Tofas managed to overcome Luke Maye’s 31 points en route to 2-0.
“I made three or four big mistakes at the end. We talk every day to spread the court. I turned it over and we had to give up two big threes. I don’t care if score 15 or 20 points or zero points, I want to win,” underlined the North Carolina alumnus, “I let the guys down today in big moments. That’s not like me. I am going to play better.”
Next week, Tofas will take on Treviso at Palaverde and Manresa will welcome Dacka at Pavello Nou Congost shifting to Gameday 3.
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League