Bourg fights off Turk Telekom, 67-63, to remain perfect
In a clash of previously undefeated teams in Group B, Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse edged Turk Telekom Ankara 67-63 on Tuesday night. Bourg improved to 4-0, while Turk Telekom dropped to 3-1.
After a series of lead changes late in the third and early in the fourth quarter, a triple from Maxime Courby gave Bourg 55-53 advantage and the hosts held that lead for good. Bourg prevailed thanks to its defense, which allowed only one field goal over a span of 4 minutes late in the game.
Offensively, Bourg had three players with 10 points – Maksim Salash, Adrian Nelson and Xavier Casteneda. Meanwhile, Anthony Brown scored 20 for the visitors, Javon Bess had 12 and Kyle Alexander collected 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Turk Telekom scored the first 7 points of the game with Hanlan hitting a triple, and Brown scoring twice, but Bourg replied in style, with an 11-2 run with Usher scoring 5 points, including a three-pointer, and Nelson getting his tally started with a close range basket. Brown hot another tough shot for the visitors, but Nelson scored twice more, including a monster fastbreak dunk to make it 15-11 after 10 minutes.
Back-to-back threes from Brown and Durmaz tied things at 17-17 in the second as the teams proceeded to trade leads, as Kyle Alexander scored twice for the visitors, his jumper making it 23-24. But Bourg replied with an 8-0 run fueled by Castaneda, before a basket from Usher and a triple from Salash helped open a 38-29 difference, the largest lead of the night. But a pair of jumpers from Brown in the final 6 seconds of the half made it 38-33 at the break.
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Brown opened the third quarter with a triple, and Turk Telekom scored the first 8 points in the period, capped by a triple from Bess and 38-41. Kevin Kokila ended Bourg's drought, but the visitors stayed in front but Bourg slowly took the defense to another level, forcing a pair of 8-second clock violations. The hosts tied the score, but Brown beat the third-quarter buzzer with a runner to make it 47-49.
However, Benitez and Mehdy Ngouma, the latter with a steal and a fastbreak slam, put Bourg back in front. Bess scored on consecutive possessions to restore the visitors' lead, but Courby's three-pointer, his only three-point attempt of the night, made it 55-53, and Bourg never trailed again. A layup from Nelson and a basket from Benitez made it 61-55, forcing a visiting timeout. Brown hit a jumper, but Salash made a hook shot, and short jumper from Benitez made it 65-59 with 1:06 left. After another defensive stand from Bourg, there was no coming back for the visitors.