CÔTE DE IVOIRE : Turkey 2010 : Elephants knocked down

Turkey got off to the perfect start and never looked back as they cruised past Ivory Coast 86-47 in front of a 7,700 strong crowd at Ankara Arena.

Omer Onan, Kerem Tunceri and Ersan Ilyasova led a three-point barrage in the early going to take a commanding 14-0 lead.

Ivory Coast eventually got in the scoring column, courtesy of Mohamed Koné. Once they got that first basket, the underdogs seemed to relax and get into the game.

The hosts had a 23-11 advantage at the end of the opening quarter, but the visitors did not let that – and the partisan crowd – deter them as they found their stroke from long range at the start of the second period to get within six, 25-19.

However, the hosts applied some effective zone defense and Randoald Dessarzin – without star point guard Pape-Philippe Amagou through injury – turned the ball over time and time again, leading to easy baskets for the Turks who led 40-22 at the break.

Bogdan Tanjevic rested his starters in the third quarter but the move did not seem to throw off his charges as they maintained a comfortable lead.

The visitors looked visibly tired in the final period and the Turks took full advantage as they stretched their advantage and did so in style.

Turkey beat Cote d'Ivoire 86-47

Ivorian scorers
Kalé (10) ; Edi (9); Koné (7); Lamizana (6); Diabaté (5) ; Assié (4) ; Konaté (4) ; Tapé (2)