Hamilton nets 17 as Darussafaka beat French team

YANNICK QUINTAL

DARUSSAFAKA center Johnny Hamilton nearly played a full 40 minutes of basketball, and it proved crucial as his Turkish club guided his team to a 82-68 win over French side Nanterre 92.

On Tuesday, Hamilton stockpiled 17 points, and collected eight rebounds and had two blocked shots. His 8/10 shooting from the field came mostly off lobs from his teammates and rim-breaking dunks. This shooting performance was a great response to a poor shooting effort in domestic league play against Galatasaray where, while he did bring in 12 rebounds and blocked two shots on Saturday, he made only seven points from eight attempts.

It is also a crucial win for Darussafaka after they lost their last two games in EuroCup group play. It was a tightly-fought battle between the two sides as both teams were looking to keep their knockout stage hopes alive. Hamilton's defensive effort and energy in the second half proved to be the difference maker in the end.

Talking about his performance on Tuesday, the Trinidad-born Hamilton said: "I just depend on my teammates. I believe in my teammates. I also did my job. My job is to protect the rim and rebound and I tried to do that to the best of my ability. Our job is not over yet. As a team, we have a goal in mind and we have to try to get to that goal."

With the win and sweeping Nanterre 92 in both games, Darussafaka currently sit third in Group C with a 4-3 record, with three games remaining in the group stages - all at home.

Darussafaka's next game is against Afyon Belediye in the Basketball Super League tomorrow.