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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Ben DuBose

Alperen Sengun puts on a show as Turkey routs Belgium at EuroBasket

Alperen Sengun EuroBasket (Organization) Turkey Belgium Rockets Eurobasket 2022 Itamar Jackson Gatlin Fiba

Second-year Rockets center Alperen Sengun, now competing for his native Turkey at the European Basketball Championship (EuroBasket 2022), reportedly had trouble sleeping after his squad took its first loss earlier in the week to Georgia. It was a relatively unexpected defeat, since Turkey is 16th and Georgia 36th in FIBA’s world rankings. Sengun took it to heart as a team leader.

Two days later, Sengun made amends in a big way.

In Tuesday’s group stage matchup against Belgium, Turkey won with relative ease, 78-63 (box score). Sengun was the biggest reason. The 20-year-old scored 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting (52.9%), including 1-of-2 from 3-point range (50%) and 3-of-3 on free throws (100%). Sengun grabbed 8 rebounds and 6 assists and committed 2 turnovers. Turkey was a team-best plus-27 in his 32 minutes.

It certainly wasn’t a Belgium side devoid of talent, either, since it was coming off a 10-point victory on Sunday versus Spain — the world’s No. 2 team, according to FIBA’s rankings.

Turkey is 3-1 at EuroBasket, which leads Group A, heading into Wednesday’s group-stage finale against Spain, whose roster features its own Houston prospect, Usman Garuba. Scroll on for highlights and analysis of Sengun’s superb work versus Belgium.

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