Turkey vs Senegal in FIBA OQT Manila. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Ali Muhammed redeemed himself and Turkey clinched the last semifinals slot after holding off another gritty performance from Senegal, 68-62, in the Fiba Olympic qualifying tournament Thursday before a scarce crowd at Mall of Asia Arena.
The pocket-sized Muhammed, whose American name is Bobby Dixon, came up big at the most crucial time for Turkey, scoring 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter after going just 0-of-8 from the field in a loss to Canada Wednesday night.
Turkish coach Ergin Ataman, however, wasn’t pleased with how his team has been playing in the tournament especially on the offensive end.
“Of course it’s not easy to talk about basketball after this disaster game. I’ve been coaching the last 20 years and first time in my life, I saw this kind of basketball,” a disappointed Ataman told reporters. “Sorry for the people that watched the game but we are not like this. We are playing terrible.”
“The Senegal team is an athletic team, they tried to do their best but their offensive capacity is not enough. Too many turnovers, too many missed shots, but in our side, it’s unacceptable this kind of offensive performance. Again, we had 64 possessions scored only 21 and we missed 13 free throws.”
Turkey had a hard time trying to shake off a resilient Senegal side, but fortunately for the Turks, Muhammed got hot and provided his team’s last 15 points of the game, including a dagger triple for a 66-60 cushion with 45 ticks remaining.
“Those were his shots and we needed him to stay in the game,” Ataman said of Muhammed, who only had one point against Canada.
Maurice Ndour posted another double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Maleye Ndoye led Senegal in scoring with 15.
“This is only the positive thing for us is that we won the game and now on Saturday we will try to play against France which is really a good team.”
Turkey will face the winner between France and New Zealand in the semis while the loser draws undefeated Canada.
Turkish forward Cedi Osman missed the game after sustaining a sprained left ankle last game.