Turkey through to semis of Olympics basketball qualifiers

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey beat the Czech Republic 87-70 late on Wednesday to make it to the semifinals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Shooting guard Furkan Korkmaz led the scoring with 20 points as Turkey won the match at the Victoria Memorial Arena in Canada to end Group B as leaders.

Melih Mahmutoglu added 13 more points, followed by Ersan Ilyasova with 12 and Cedi Osman with 11.

Point guard Tomas Satoransky was the top scorer for the Czech Republic with 15 points, center Jan Vesely ended with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Patrik Auda added 10 points.

Turkey will now face either Greece or China on Saturday.

The two countries will face off in Victoria on Thursday for second spot in Group A, which has been won by Canada.

Only the winner of the qualifying tournament will get a ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The Olympics will take place from July 23 to Aug. 8 after being postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.