P?nar Kar??yaka stuns Barcelona, Darü??afaka wins in Euroleague debuts

Two Turkish clubs made glorious starts to their first-ever Turkish Airlines Euroleague campaigns on Oct. 15, with P?nar Kar??yaka beating 71-62 at home over twice-former winner Barcelona and Darü??afaka Do?u? vanquishing Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari 83-74.

Having beaten more fancied local rivals to win the Turkish top flight Beko Basketball League title last season, Kar??yaka continued to punch above its weight against formidable opposition despite losing some of its top players in the off season.

Forward Colton Iverson racked up 16 points and eight rebounds as the home side pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring Barcelona 25-11. 

?It?s an unbelievable win for us,? the ?zmir club?s coach, Ufuk Sar?ca, said after the game.

?I told my players before the game that it would not be easy for us. They are a really big club, with many, very experienced players. But we are a good team, and with our fans, we can beat anybody,? he added.

Kar??yaka?s Justin Carter praised the club fans. ?We played hard. We are at home, we got great fans,? he said. ?We just have to play hard. We know they are a tough team to play; they have a great system, great coach, great players. We just played our system, played hard, and held the home-court advantage.?

In Istanbul, Darü??afaka Do?u? completed a memorable night for Turkey with an 83-74 overtime home win against Italians Dinamo Sassari.

The victory came with tough fight rather than good play, according to Darü??afaka coach Oktay Mahmuti. 

?We must be honest. We did not play great basketball,? he said. ?We showed a great effort, which is very important. We struggled a lot, especially offensively. We had a lot of open shots, and we missed them. But at the end, we...