Important win in the first round of Euroleague

SOPRON BASKET - GALATASARAY 72-55 (16-10, 13-8, 25-14, 18-23)
Sopron, 900 fans

Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky 2, Turner 15, Crvendakic 17/3, Milovanovic 11/3, Langhorne 10 Cs.: Joanovic 11, Salvadores 6, Dubei -, Határ -

Galatasaray: Alben 9/6, Uygül -, Quigley 10, Dubljevic 15/3, Petronyte - Cs.: Epoupa 13, Kavurmacioglu 4, Basaran 4, Topuz -, van Grinsven -

Statisztika

Mezőny dobószázalék: 29/58 50% vs. 23/71 32%

3-pontos dobószázalék: 2/12 17% vs. 3/23 13%

Büntető dobószázalék: 12/15 80% vs. 6/11 55%

Lepattanó: 48 (Jovanovic 12) vs. 29 (Dubljevic 7)

Gólpassz: 14 (Salvadores, Milovanovic 4-4) vs. 4 (Epoupa 2)

Szerzett labda: 8 (Langhorne 3) vs. 14 (Epoupa, Alben 3-3)

Eladott labda: 24 vs. 15

Blokk: 3 vs. 2

Fault: 20 vs. 20

Quite a lot of people have showed up to the first Euroleague game in Sopron against Turkish side Galatasaray, who were also supported by a handful of fans. The game began as the home fans wanted, Sopron started off with a 10-2 run, getting a confident lead early on. The Turkish managed to come closer by the end of the quarter, which ended at 16-10.

The second period was just like the one before, it showed a very tough competition between two sides, both of whom wanted to give their best. Luckily, we did it better in these 10 minutes again, the difference grew to double digits by the end of the quarter ending the low-scoring first half 29-18. In the first twenty minutes both teams played with a lot of fouls, and neither of them could score from behind the three-point line.

Sopron got up to a whole new level after the half-time break. They kept defending very well, and in this period shots from the arc started to fall in the basket, hence the 22-point lead at the end of the third period. Sopron scored 25 points in this quarter, almost as many as they did in the entire first half, doubling their 11-unit half-time lead. After 30 minutes Sopron led 54-32.

In the last ten minutes of the game Galatasaray tried everything to come back into the game, they strengthened their tough defense, they played strongly on full-court pressing, which made Sopron commit some unintended turnovers and give away easy baskets, but head coach Iniguez always knew when to intervene, and called time-outs at the right moments, stopping Galatasaray. The entire team of Sopron knew their tasks in the game and completed them as planned, which meant that Sopron Basket won their first Euroleague game of the season against Turkish side Galatasaray, who came back strong to Euroleague after one season in EuroCup (40th minute 72-55).

Roberto Iniguez (coach): I'm very happy about the team. Looking at the scoreboard it might have seemed to be an easy game for us, but it wasn't easy at all. We had to play focused throughout the whole game against a very good team who played full-court pressing all game long, and that is a new style of play, to which I think we adapted successfully, and managed to win the game. I must say, that one win doesn't mean that we are the best in the world, but if we lost, I would have said the same thing, that we are not the worst team in the world. I'm happy for my team, but have to keep working, and take every game one by one.

Marina Maljkovic (coach): Congratulations to Sopron! They built a well-constructed team with outstanding Serbian players whom I know very well. Sopron's club has benn an emblem of the Euroleague for a long time now, we just got back in the series, and we need more time. We spotted our mistakes, and will now work on correcting them to be more successful later on.

Zsófia Fegyverneky: We prepared a lot against full-court pressing, and we wanted to take advantage of that by scoring easy baskets. This turned out well, just like taking Allie Quigley, one of Euroleague's best shooters out of her pace and hence, out of the game. The key to the win was defense, and that we could play focused for 40 minutes. I'm especially happy about the big difference, it might be of use at the end of the group phase!