Turk Telekom kept its chances to reach the Last 16 alive with an 86-73 victory over Spartak St. Petersburg in Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday. Telekom improved to 2-3 in Group E, but will still need help next week to overtake Spartak for second place. Spartak’s record is now 3-2 and it will advance to the next stage with a home win over Group E winner Bizkaia Bilbao Basket or if Telekom loses its regular season finale at Spirou Charleroi. Telekom will move into second place only if it wins and Spartak loses against Bilbao. Three stars shined brighter than the rest for Telekom in the win over Spartak. Erwin Dudley scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Lamayne Wilson added 19 points and 4 assists and Tutku Acik recorded 18 points and 6 assists to lead the winner. Kris Lang added 13 for Telekom, which used a 17-1 charge that bridged the second and third quarters to take control of the game. Spartak made a late charge to get within 73-65 with three minutes to go, but it was not enough to change the outcome. Milovan Rakovic paced Spartak with 25 points and 8 rebounds, James White added 15 points and Levance Fields dished 8 assists in defeat.

Spartak won the opening tip, but a Lang steal led to a Wilson basket and the first points for Turk Telekom. Vasily Zavoruev answered from downtown for the visitors as the teams traded baskets in the early going. Yahor Meshcharakou’s triple was followed by a basket-plus-foul from Rakovic to put Spartak ahead 8-11. Lang and Wilson teamed up to put Telekom back on top, but an Anton Yudin triple kept the visitors close. Dudley sank a pair of free throws before Rakovic made it 20-18 with a basket on the offensive glass at the end of the first quarter. Rakovic attacked the offensive boards again and produced a basket-plus-foul to give his team a 1-point lead at the start of the second quarter. Telekom struck back as Huseyin Besok scored inside and Wilson sank a triple. A Wilson steal helped the hosts go ahead 27-21. Spartak came right back as Evgeny Kolesnikov fed White and then scored on his own. Acik made a three for the hosts before White answered and a Kolesnikov triple tied the game at 32-32. Acik took charge for the hosts, drawing a foul while shooting a three and making 3 free throws. Lang assisted Soner Senturk on his first basket and then dished to Acik for a triple to put Telekom up 8. Zavoruev ended the Spartak slide with a free throw, but Wilson scored twice from the line to complete an 11-1 run that made it 43-33 at the break.

Telekom looked to put the game away with two baskets from Umit Sonkol and another from Lang – two of them assisted by Acik – that made it 49-33. Meshcharakou scored Spartak’s first basket of the half nearly three-minutes into the third quarter, but the visitors were unable to make up any real ground on the home side. White and Rakovic’s points were matched by Dudley, who kept Telekom ahead by at least 10. Then Wilson struck again from downtown before feeding Sonturk as the lead shot to 60-43. Levance Fields and Rakovic only narrowed to deficit to 62-49 by the end of the quarter. Wilson and Dudley teamed up again to increase the lead to 18 early in the fourth quarter as the game started to slip away for Spartak. Rakovic and White tried to ignite the visitors and managed to cut the gap to 69-53. Dudley and Acik scored from the line to keep Telekom in control. Spartak made on final push as Yudin sank a triple and White and Fields added baskets before White capped a 0-9 run to make it 73-65 with three minutes to go. Acik stepped up with a clutch triple and in the closing minutes, Bekir Yarangume, Dudley and Acik all sank free throws down the stretch to help Telekom seal the win and celebrate with its fans.



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