Turkey Beats Slovenia, Advances To Semifinals

ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Turkey continues to make history in front of their fans as they dominated Slovenia 95-68 to make it into the semifinals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship at a packed Sinan Erdem Dome.

This is the third time that Turkey has played in this tournament, and the first time that they will have a chance to play for a medal as Bogdan Tanjevic's team extended their winning streak to seven games, including five in the Preliminary Round.

It was a slow start for the Turkish team as the Slovenians were led by Bostjan Nachbar who scored 7 of their first 10 points to take a 10-6 lead after a three pointer.

Turkey responded quickly with a man to man defense, which has been the first time they have used it in this tournament and also with three pointers by Omer Onan along with Kerem Tunceri to take a 12-10 lead with 6:38. The quarter ended with a 10-0 run as Turkey finished the first ten minutes up 27-14.

The efficient three point scoring by Turkey continued in the second quarter, not only from the starters, but also from the bench as they finished shooting 8-11 from three. Also they took advantage of the mistakes by the Slovenians to convert some easy buckets. The first half ended 50-31 in favor of Turkey as Ersan Ilyasova led the way with 14 points.

In the third quarter the Turkish offensive continued with their aggressive attack while Slovenia just couldn’t find an open player consistently. Ten players who got an opportunity to play already scored by that point and finished with a 71-43 lead.

The Slovenians hoped for a late comeback with Jaka Lakovic and Nachbar still on the court in the final quarter but the lead was too big and the Turkish never let their guard down.

Slovenia had a good performance in this tournament, starting with a second place finish in Group B and then they routed Australia in the semifinals 87-58. This team that finished fourth in last year’s Eurobasket missed some key players like Erazem and Domen Lorbek.

Now Turkey plays Serbia in the semifinals of the FIBA World Championship on September 11.

FIBA.org