POL/TUR - Poles shock Turkey too

PANEVEZYS (EuroBasket 2011) - Poland remained firmly in the hunt for a place in Round 2 of the EuroBasket with an 84-83 upset of Turkey on Sunday.

The Poles won for the second time in four Group A games while Turkey fell to 2-2.

Turkey, runners-up as hosts of last years' FIBA World Championship, have now lost two straight.

They slipped to a late defeat against Lithuania on Friday.

Poland, coached by former Slovenia boss Ales Pipan, have been one of the best stories of EuroBasket 2011 because they travelled to the Baltics without Phoenix Suns star Marcin Gortat and his fellow center Maciej Lampe yet have not backed down from the giants.

They almost surprised Spain with a big comeback in their opener and following a win over Portugal, they now have two victories.

Poland's hero against Turkey was Dardan Berisha, who scored 21 points.

His most important basket came with just 12 seconds left in the game, a jump shot that gave Poland an 84-83 lead.

"I went one on one and I knew I had a shot," Berisha said.

"I knew I had to take it."

Orhun Ene, the Turkey coach, called a timeout.

When play resumed, the ball ended up in the hands of Kerem Tunceri and the veteran guard launched a shot from the arc that missed at the buzzer.

A win over Britain on Monday would ensure Poland's spot in the next phase of the EuroBasket at Turkey's expense, even if the Turks were to upset Spain.

Should Britain beat the Poles and Turkey prevail, then the Turks would move on.

If Turkey and Poland fall, they would both be in a three-way tie with Britain and a goal differential tie-breaker would be used taking into account the games between those three teams.

FIBA