Morabanc Andorra found no trouble to collect another home win when it defeated Turk Telekom Ankara 98-75 at Poliesportiu D’Andorra on Wednesday night. The hosts used a 15-0 run bridging the first and the second quarters to build a 40-18 margin that the visitors never threatened.
Andorra rips Turk Telekom to stay perfect at home, 98-75
Codi Miller-McIntyre paced the winners with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals for a PIR of 25. Clevin Hannah followed with 14 points and 5 assists and Conor Morgan and Nacho Llovet scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, for Andorra, which improved to 4-2. Turk Telekom, whose record dropped to 3-3, was led by Aaron Harrison, who provided 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from behind the arc. Anthony Clemmons added 13 points and 6 boards and Octavius Ellis posted 12 points and 6 rebounds in the losing effort.
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The hosts displayed a terrific offensive performance in the early going, succeeding in every offense while hitting 3 threes without a miss to get an 18-11 lead midway through the first quarter. The visitors survived thanks to their long-distance shooting, as they only attempted once from two over the first 6 minutes. The scoring slowed down a bit after a Turk Telekom timeout, but Andorra found another offensive spark behind three-pointers from Amine Noua and Miller-McIntyre, a layup by Babatunde Olumuyiwa plus a tap-in buzzer-beater by the former to lead 29-18 after 10 minutes.
Things didn’t improve for the visitors when the game resumed, as they were held scoreless for a 4-minute span that Andorra exploited to ignite an 11-0 run that raised the difference to 40-18. The guests found some relief from the foul line to reduce it to 44-29, but Hannah stepped up with a long three that revitalized the home team and froze the rally. Mario Nakic followed with a contested baseline layup and Morgan finished a fastbreak to return the 20-point margin to Andorra right before Harrison drilled a three that sent the game to the locker room with a comfortable 51-34 advantage for the hosts.
A three-pointer by Berk Demir and free throws by Clemmons allowed Turk Telekom to come within 51-39 right after the break. Andorra held on and found some points by its frontcourt players to retain a 57-41 edge, but a three-pointer by Clemmons and a dunk by Ellis forced an urgent timeout by the hosts at 57-46 midway through the third quarter. An inside bucket by Victor Arteaga and free throws by Drew Crawford helped Andorra stay calm, and even though the visitors managed to trim the deficit to 61-51 soon after, Oriol Pauli showed up big to score a layup, assist Hannah for a triple and provide a couple of free throws that allowed his team to enter the last period in front 68-55.
Hannah took the reins going into the last stanza, contributing a three-point play, hitting from behind the arc and finishing a fastbreak to restore a 20-point margin, 76-55, for the hosts. Andorra’s defense stepped up too, as the guests needed almost 4 minutes to score until Harrison ended the drought with a triple. It proved worthless, though, because Morgan took over with 6 points in a row soon after to make it 82-60 and put the game to sleep with still 5 minutes remaining.