ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Turkey and their vaunted zone defense paved the way for another dominating win at the FIBA World Championship on Sunday night against France.
Bogdan Tanjevic's team scored 13 points off 11 first-half turnovers to take command and then lowered the boom in the third quarter before pulling away for a 95-77 triumph.
The Eight-Final victory has thrown the Turks into a Quarter-Final showdown with Slovenia, who blew away Australia 87-58 in the first game of the day.
The two-three zone employed by the Turks never gave France a chance.
With Omer Onan, Kerem Tunceri, Ender Arslan and Sinan Guler at the top of zone, Les Bleus couldn't cope.
When the French did throw the ball into the lane, the tall frontcourt of Turkey was an unmovable wall.
Hedo Turkoglu led the way with 20 points and the sensational Guler added 17.
Tunceri had a team-high three steals which all came in the first half when Turkey built a 43-25 advantage.
Vincent Collet's team managed to hang on for 26 minutes and only trailed 30-24 when Turkoglu and Co began to knock them out.
Tunceri came up with his third steal to trigger a fastbreak that Guler finished and after Ali Traore was called for travelling, an Oguz Savas three-point play made it 35-24.
France would end up closing the gap to 37-28 on a Florent Pietrus basket, but Turkey responded with an Ersan Ilyasova three-ball, another Savas basket and a Savas free-throw just two seconds from half-time for the 15-point edge.
Turkoglu began the second half with two three-pointers, Omer Asik made two free-throws and Onan had a lay-up for a 10-0 run that put the result beyond doubt.
Turkey ended up getting 21 points off turnovers for the game.
Subject: Unstoppable Turkey 
Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:53 pm
