ISTANBUL (Turkey) - Turkey's lineup made a lot of noise with its starpower, but it was all about Croatia on Friday. Miro Bilan led the team to a 3-0 record, while keeping Turkey bottom of the Group D after a 79-62 win for the Croats.

Shane Larkin's long awaited debut ended with 12 points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field, not enough to take down a feel-good team like Croatia. But Larkin wasn't the only debutante in this one, the 2002-born rivals Alperen Sengun and Roko Prkacin both played their first games for their respective teams - Prkacin had 6 points in 15 minutes for Croatia, Sengun scored 9 in 20 minutes for Turkey.

Turning Point: Tip-off. Croatia dominated from start to finish, never allowing the hosts of the Istanbul bubble to get anything going. Croatia went all-in on defense, with Mateo Dreznjak and Filip Kruslin getting the assignment to chase down Shane Larkin all over the court. The tactic paid off, Turkey managed to score only 7 points in the first quarter, and 24 at the half. With all the effort Turkey put in defensively in the second half, Croatia's lead ballooned to as many as 25 points in the first half and they weren't going to let that one slip out of their hands.

Game Hero: Miro Bilan. Dinamo Sassari's big guy was selected to the Basketball Champions League Team of the Month for November, now he just translated the same kind of form to the white-and-red jersey, finishing the game with 30 points (10-of-14 shooting from the field) and 12 rebounds to lead Croatia to their third straight win in the Qualifiers.

Stats Don't Lie: The thing about Croatia's defense to start the game was a double win for Coach Veljko Mrsic. Firstly, because they stopped Turkey, and secondly, because they got into some early offense with ease, scored in transition and had a 19-4 edge in points from turnovers. Defense leading to offense usually gets you praise from the playcaller.

Bottom Line: Croatia's perfect run continues, they are now 3-0 in Group D ahead of their duel with Sweden in two days' time, while Turkey sits at the other end of the scale. The coaching change did not bring the positive shock needed, as they dropped to 0-3 before their Sunday game against the Netherlands.

They Said:

FIBA