KAYSERI (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Angola got their first win in the 2010 FIBA World Championship over Jordan 79-65 in the first game of day two as part of Group A in Kayseri.

Angola started the game with a 7-2 run and dominated most of the first quarter, but Jordan came back thanks to their effort getting second chance opportunities. A basket by Mousa Alawadi gave them a 17-16 lead to finish the first quarter. Ayman Idais had 7 of the 17 points by Jordan.

Then in the second quarter, Angola recovered the lead early on but Jordan made a 7-0 run that finished with a layup by Mousa Alawadi to be up 27-21 and they finished the first half up 35-29. Angola stayed in the game by taking advantage of the points made from turnovers.

Jordan stayed on top for most of the third quarter but suffered as Angola started to pressure the ball and forced turnovers to stay close. Then a spectacular dunk from an offensive rebound by Felizardo Ambrosio gave Angola a 46-45 lead with 39 seconds left. The third quarter ended 48-47 in favor of Jordan as Zaid Abbas made a two pointer as the buzzer sounded.

In the final ten minutes Angola continued with the same recipe, pressuring the ball, playing hard defense and offensively they attacked the basket and went inside with their big men. A 10-0 run that finished with a basket by Felizardo Ambrosio gave them a 56-47 lead and they never looked back.

Joaquim Gomes scored 13 points and grabber six rebounds.  He visited with FIBATV.Com after game.

Quotes:

Paulo Jorge Macedio (Assistant Coach, Angola): Although both teams performed well, only one team can win. We had to win today and worked very hard for this. I think we deserved to win today. What happened yesterday was very bad for us, so we had to win this one to be able to continue. That’s why we were more passionate.

Roberto Fortes (Guard, Angola): Congratulations to both teams. We were more enthusiastic about winning. Both the players on the court and on the bench were really enthusiastic. We deserved to win”

Joaquim Gomes (Foward, Angola): I think it was a good game and it was tough. Both teams had to win but we were more passionate to win this game.”

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ANKARA (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Turkey saw off Russia 65-56 in front of more than 10,000 fans at Ankara Arena to stay undefeated in Group C of the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Both teams had the hot hand early as the game looked more like a three-point shootout. The score was tied at nine with all points coming from behind the arc.

Both teams eventually cooled off, particularly David Blatt’s men who made only three of 16 attempts from two-point range in the first half and didn’t find their range until late in the game with Turkey holding a double-digit lead.

Andrey Vorontsevich hit a tough shot in the lane to put Russia up 14-11 but the hosts got in front by accounting for the last five of the first quarter.

Ender Arslan connected twice from downtown as Turkey extended their advantage to 25-16.

Sinan Guler buried a three-pointer from the corner as Bogdan Tanjevic’s men took a 33-22 lead at the break.

The Russians went on a 6-0 spurt – capped off by Sasha Kaun’s thunderous dunk – to get within 33-28 early in the third quarter.

The Turks though pulled away once more with Omer Asik and Hidayet Turkoglu knocking down timely baskets.

Semih Erden then flipped up a shot with his back to the basket and completed a three-point play as the hosts went into the final frame with a 48-37 advantage.

Russia’s struggles were best illustrated by Sergey Monya blowing a straightforward looking dunk and Sergey Bykov missing a lay-up from point blank range.

Monya made up for his miss by hitting a three-pointer and Vitaliy Fridzon added one of his own to cut the deficit to 57-49, before Turkoglu re-established a double-digit lead for his team to put the game beyond reach.

Quotes:

Bogdan Tanjevic (Turkey head coach): “This game was similar to the one against the Ivory Coast. We played this game like a surgeon: operating slowly and carefully. I think we spread our energy well throughout the game and got a good result.”

Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey forward): “Our target was set from the beginning: take it game game by game. We worked hard. Coach said that every ball, every score and every second is important. We played hard until the last second. I know I made a couple of stupid mistakes all around. It was a good game for us and I am happy to win. Tomorrow we are going to relax but also keep on training. The day after (Tuesday) we will be competing in order to top the group. All in all, I am happy with tonight’s game.”

David Blatt (Russia head coach): “This was a hard-fought game and I think from our perspective we had a bad second quarter and could not come back. My guys played hard and played good defense but it’s hard against the Turkish team and their crowd. We faced a really strong Turkish team and we made bad decisions at the key points of the game.”

Sasha Kaun (Russia centre): “We played hard, good and smart but our second quarter was bad and it was hard to come back from that. We put pressure on ourselves, we tried to come back but couldn’t do it. We hope to come back strong in the next game.”


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