04 October, 2022
14 May, 2023
11/10/2022
Game Report
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Galatasaray use dominant second half to deny Legia

 

ISTANBUL (Turkey) - After trailing by 7 points at halftime, Galatasaray Nef made their comeback in the second half thanks to outscoring Legia Warszawa 47-25 in the third and fourth quarter to take an 86-71 victory and move to 2-0 in Group C.

 

Turning point: Galatasaray led 22-20 after one quarter, but Legia picked it up and outscored them 26-17 in the second quarter to grab a 7-point lead at halftime. Grzegorz Kulka (15 points) and Ray McCallum (11 points) combined for 26 points and knocked down 6-of-8 three-pointers in the first half.

Galatasaray flipped the script in the third quarter and went on an 11-0 run to take a four-point lead, but Legia hung around and the game ended up tied after three quarters. It was a similar pattern in the fourth quarter, as Galatasaray opened the final 10 minutes on a 13-2 run to take an 11-point lead, their biggest lead of the game at the time, but this time, keeping their foot on the gas to preserve their lead and the win in the end.

 

Game heroes: Dee Bost and Angelo Caloiaro both had great games, as Bost recorded his second-ever double-double in the BCL with 15 points and 11 assists along with 3 steals, while Caloiaro scored a game-high 22 points along with 3 rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and a perfect 2-of-2 from three-point range.

 

Stats don't lie: Galatasaray held a decisive 28-8 advantage in points from the bench, with Dylan Ennis (11 points) and Sadik Kabaca (10 points) leading their bench unit and combining for 21 of those points. Galatasaray also swiped away 11 steals and scored 22 points off turnovers.

Bottom line: Galatasaray are now 2-0 in Group C and the Turkish club will travel to face Hapoel Holon, also 2-0, in the battle of unbeaten teams on Wednesday October 26, while Warszawa now fall to 0-2 in the group. The Polish club will host Filou Oostende (0-2) next on Wednesday October 26.

 

They said:

"It was a tough opponent. Gala has a really good team. I thought we came out and played well together and had a great first half. We played really well for 30 minutes, but it's a 40-minute game. It's never fun to lose, but I think we can take a lot of positives out of this, so we'll learn from it and just try to build on it." - Ray McCallum, Legia Warszawa

"They [Galatasaray] did a great job defensively in the second half. We played amazing first half and we were up, but we didn't play on same level in the second half, and we let them direct the game." - Wojciech Kaminsky, head coach Legia Warszawa

"It was an important victory for us. We had a very good reaction in the second half. It was a slow start in the first half actually, so this was very important because of the way it happened and our mental reaction to the game. At the same time, this is a long season, we need to stay humble because I can't point this out enough; whenever you win a game, it's not a triumph and whenever you lose a game, it's not a disaster. You cannot be successful or unsuccessful in a season in October. There's a lot of games to play and we need to keep it up." - Andreas Pistiolis, head coach Galatasaray Nef

"Tough game. We started out slow. Second half, we picked up the intensity and we won. We fought together as a team and that's all that matters." - Dee Bost, Galatasaray Nef