Basketball: Turkey defeat Montenegro in World Cup

Turkey win their first game in Group O of the Classification Round 17-32, beating Montenegro 79-74

By Emre Asikci

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey won their first game in the Classification Round 17-32 of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, beating Montenegro 79-74 on Saturday.

In the match played in China's Dongguan city, Turkey defeated Montenegro 79-74 in FIBA World Cup after a big comeback performance.

The crowd saw a resilient Turkish team, as they refused to be defeated, being down 55-65 with 4:04 to go.

Turkey managed to take the lead with Cleveland Cavaliers' player Cedi Osman's points in the fourth quarter.

James Metecan Birsen showed a successful performance in absence of Ersan Ilyasova.

Metecan Birsen scored 15 points and had eight rebounds while Turkey's top scorer Cedi osman played with 19 points in the game.

Meanwhile, Turkey made 15/17 free throws to win this match.

For Montenegro, Orlando Magic's player Nikola Vucevic produced 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists as Derek Needham scored 13 points.

In the second round matches on Saturday, Australia won against Dominican Republic 82-76 in Group L match.

NBA team San Antonio Spurs player Patty Mills was the top performer for The Boomers with 19 points, nine assists.

Jock Landale playing as center for Australia scored 12 points.

Dominican center Eloy Vargas produced 16 points and seven rebounds.

Victor Liz scored 14 points for Dominican Republic, the shooting guard also made four assists and four rebounds.

In Group K game, Czech Republic thrashed Brazil 93-71 in Shenzhen.

Czech Republic hammered Brazil in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, as Chicago Bulls player Tomas Satoransky scored 20 points seven rebounds and nine assists for his team in the victory.

Czech center Ondrej Balvin, contributed to the massive win with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Brazilian power forward Vitor Benite was the top scorer for his team, with 12 points against Czech Republic.

Marcelinho Huertas played with 11 points and six assists but Brazil couldn't avoid the loss in Shenzhen.

Saturday's results:

Second Round

Australia - Dominican Republic: 82-76

Brazil - Czech Republic: 71-93

The USA - Greece: 69- 53

France - Lithuania : 78-75

Classification Round 17-32

New Zealand - Japan: 111-81

Canada - Jordan: 126-71