EUROBASKET 2011

Turkey veteran Hedo Turkoglu was named the MVP of the Istanbul friendly tournament

Turkey beat Montenegro 81-69 on Thursday to win the Adidas Istanbul Cup.

Orhun Ene's side followed up their six-point triumph over New Zealand with another victory to boost the confidence of the side with the EuroBasket in Lithuania quickly approaching.

Hedo Turkoglu was named the MVP of the Istanbul Cup.

He finished with 13 points against the Montenegrins.

Montenegro had defeated Ukraine on Wednesday and settled for second place while the New Zealand Tall Blacks bounced back to defeat Ukraine to clinch third.

Montenegro coach Dejan Radonjic did not have Nikola Pekovic, who had picked up a minor knock in the win over Ukraine.

Pekovic is expected to be out of action for a few days but the injury isn't thought to be serious.

"Of course it was not easy to play a game without starting center and captain Pekovic, but we all did our best under these circumstances and he'll play as best as possible," Radonjic said.

Turkey and Montenegro will play again on Saturday.

"I hope that we, in Saturday's game against Turkey, we will be complete, and that we will play better than tonight."

Fratello Looks On the Bright Side 

23-year-old shooting guard Oleksandr Kolchenko gained Fratello's praise

Ukraine coach Mike Fratello tried to accentuate the positives after his team's defeat.

"I thought for a lot of the minutes in tonight's game, we did a lot better job than we did last night," Fratello said.

"We played with more energy, played better defense.

"In the third quarter, the turnovers came back to haunt us, just as they had last night, and they went on an 11-0 run in one stretch there and we didn't answer it.

"My congratulations to New Zealand."

Fratello has made a habit of praising his star players after warm-up games and on this occasion, plaudits went to Oleksandr Kolchenko.

"This young man, Sasha, came in and really gave us a great lift in the first half," Fratello said.

"Not only did he score, but he defended very well for us.

"I want to commend him on his effort and performance and helping us play better than we did last night."