Thomas produces 22 points for the win

Thomas Kelati

Thomas Kelati (195-G/F-82, college: Washington St.) together with his Turow Zgorzelec jumped into a massive lead in the ULEB Cup Top 16 series against BC Kyiv winning away from home yesterday. David Logan and Thomas Kelati teamed up for 47 points to upset an ambitious Ukrainian outfit, 59:71. Now BC Kyiv needs a miracle to deny a 12-point deficit in the second game. Turow entered the game with the best defense of the ULEB Cup regular season and they lived up to the status. A stifling defensive performance from the visitors resulted in painful 15 turnovers from BC Kyiv and Turow used to full advantage. Thomas Kelati scored 5 unanswered points at the start of the game. Slobodan Ljubotina added 5 more and Turow gained a comfortable 10:0 lead early on. Ryan Stack and Marcus Faison brought a sloppy Kyiv team back to life at 8:12 but Turow continued to dominate. The visitors went on a 9:2 run to accumulate a 21:10 lead. Eugene Jeter and Manuchar Markoishvili trimmed the deficit to 6 points at the end of the first period 18:24. The Polish side ignited a 7:0 run early in the second stanza and stretched the margin. But Manuchar Markoishvili and Marko Maravic kept the spectators hopeful as they pulled the gap back to 6 points. Thomas Kelati stroke from downtown once again and sealed a 34:25 outcome for the first half. Tomo Mahoric introduced Artur Drozdov into action in the second half despite BC Kyiv's captain being advised to rest his injured knee. Drozdov added some flexibility in offense and the hosts seemed to get rolling. Manuchar Markoishvili nailed a pair of impressive buckets and Marko Maravic added from inside to cut the difference. But not for long though. David Logan came up with 5 straight points and made it a 49:36 advantage after 30 minutes. David Logan hit an incredible off-glass treble and Slobodan Ljubotina added another one from the corner to silence the crowd at the Sports Palace early in the fourth. Artur Drozdov beat the clock with a long bomb of his own but it was just a short spark for the home team. David Logan kept on delivering points to keep Turow at a safe distance. BC Kyiv desperately needed to come closer and when Drozdov and Eugene Jeter knocked down back-to-back treys the gap was narrowed to 8 points. But Thomas Kelati remained cool-headed and his two triples ensured positive emotions for Turow after the game. David Logan notched game-high 25 points for Turow. Thomas Kelati scored 22 points, while Slobodan Ljubotina had 15 points for the winners. Eugene Jeter launched 15 points but committed 7 turnovers for BC Kyiv. Manuchar Markoishvili sank 12 points in defeat.