Galatasaray, Banvit win semifinal berths

Galatasaray Medical Park players celebrate after beating Tofas 79-73 in the Game 2 of their Beko Turkish Basketball League series and advancing to the semifinals.

Galatasaray Medical Park and Banvit became the first semifinalists in the Beko Turkish Basketball League (TBL) playoffs after sweeping their first round series on May 8.

Bosnian guard Nihad Dedovic scored 15 points as regular season leader Galatasaray Medical Park beat Tofas 79-73 to finish the best-of-three series in just two games. Galatasaray Medical Park used a late rally to cut the 8-point lead of the Bursa team. The Lions won 20-6 in the last quarter of the game to win the match.

Veteran Croatian center Jurica Zuza scored 19 points to lead all players, but his efforts were not enough for Tofas.

“We had the lead until the last five minutes of the game but we made some small mistakes, which Galatasaray fully exploited,” coach Nihat Izic said after the game. “Now the league is over for us, we will start thinking about next season.”

Galatasaray Medical Park will meet the Besiktas Milangaz

Banvit, who finished the regular season in second spot, eased through the semifinals after beating Aliaga Petkim 80-64 in the second game.

American forward Chuck Davis scored 19 points while guard Serkan Erdogan added 16 points to power Banvit past its opponent.


hurriyetdailynews.com

10.05.2012 19:58