Credit: Greek BF
Credit Greek BF

Mateusz Ponitkas' performance in the second half led Poland past Turkey to win their first preparation game on the second day of the Acropolis tournament 87-86 (23-17, 12-21, 28-21, 24-27).

Poland gets their first win in the preparation after their masterful possession, in which Mateusz Ponitka assisted Alexander Balcerowski for the game-winner with 4 seconds left in the fourth quarter. After that Alperen Sengun missed a jump shot with 2 seconds left to seal Poland's victory.

Shane Larkin stole the ball and converted on a fast break layup to give Turkey a 1-point advantage (86-87) with 7 seconds left in the game.

Aaron Cel hit a crucial 3-pointer to give Poland a 4-point advantage (83-79) with 33 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Cedi Osman got fouled on a 3-point attempt with 14 seconds left and hit all three free throws to reduce the deficit to 1 point again (83-82).

Cedi Osman's 3-point play with 54 seconds left in the final quarter reduced Turkey's deficit to just 1 point (80-79) and kept their chances alive.

Most of the fourth quarter was a tight game between the two teams with many lead changes. With 2:14 left in the quarter, Dominik Olejniczak's dunk increased Poland's advantage to 6 points (77-71).

Poland had an 8-1 run at the end of the third quarter, in which Mateusz Ponitka scored 5 points by himself, to take the lead by 4 points (63-59) before the final quarter of the game.

Early in the second quarter, Turkey went on a 7-0 run to tie the game (26-26), after Melih Mahmutoglu's 3-pointer with 7:27 left in the first half.

Poland started the game better and after Lukasz Kolenda's buzzer-beater 3-pointer to end the first quarter were ahead by 6 points (23-17).

Poland was led by Mateusz Ponitka who had a good all-around game and ended up with 16 points (6/10 2PT, 4/5 FT), 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 1 block.

Turkey was led by Furkan Korkmaz who had 13 points (2/2 2PT, 2/2 3PT, 4/4 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal

Poland: Mateusz Ponitka 16 (7 AST, 6 REB), Aaron Cel 15, Aleksander Balcerowski 13, Michal Sokolowski 12 (6 REB), Dominik Olejniczak 10 (6 REB);

Turkey: Cedi Osman 15, Furkan Korkmaz 13 (5 REB), Melih Mahutmoglu 13, Sehmuz Hazer 10, Alperen Sengun 9 (5 REB).

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