Turkish team gets ticket to Final Four of Eurochallenge

ISTANBUL

Pınar Karşıyaka players celebrate a win against Levallois that led the Turkish side to the Final Four of the Eurochallange. DHA photo

Pınar Karşıyaka has progressed to the Final Four of the Eurochallenge competition, beating France’s Levallois 85-69 in the Aegean province of İzmir.

The Turkish men’s basketball team was tied with the Parisians 1-1 in the best-of-three series, in the third-tier European club competition.

Karşıyaka suffered a bad start in the first four minutes of the first quarter, with Levallois scoring the first seven points. However, Pınar responded with an unchallenged 12 point series.
 
However, the İzmir team managed to end the first quarter leading 21-8. It improved further in the second quarter with three-pointers, however Cox, May and Albicy helped Levallois reduce the difference to 13 points in the third quarter.

The Eurochallenge stands behind the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and Eurocup as the third-level club competition in European basketball. Last year, Beşiktaş became the first Turkish team to clinch the trophy, and Pınar Karşıyaka is hoping to keep the trophy in Turkey this season.