Thrilling Opening Day In Izmir

IZMIR (EuroBasket 2011) - Teams that will be aiming for the podium at the EuroBasket in Lithuania are trading blows at the Spor Toto World Cup in Izmir.

And the home fans certainly have not been left disappointed with their team, Turkey, edging Ukraine 69-65 in overtime on Day 1.

Ukraine trailed 38-23 at half-time but staged a dramatic second-half comeback to knot the game 58-58 at the end of regulation.

Turkey then did just enough to scrape a victory.

Orhun Ene might have been able to put the game away early but elected to get some of his youngsters experience.

One of those young guns that everyone is keeping an eye on, Enes Kanter, had seven points and six rebounds.

Kanter was a star for Turkey's teams that played in FIBA Europe's youth championships.

Earlier this summer, the Utah Jazz selected him third overall in the NBA Draft.

Another player with a lot of promise is center Furkan Aldemir and he had eight points and seven boards.

Omer Onan, one of Turkey's veteran guards and star players the past two summers, said: "In this game, we came out after intense training which lasted almost a month.

"And I can say that for the first game, we were not in the best condition.

"The advantage reached 15 points and the coach had the opportunity to test young players.

"I believe that we will play even better as we do have a very experienced team.

"However, we should pay tribute to the Ukrainian team because they looked very good and the fact that we allowed them only 65 points is a testament to our defense."

As for Mike Fratello, the new coach of Ukraine, he decided to pay tribute to guard Dmytro Zabirchenko, who sat next to him in the post-game press conference.

Zabirchenko had six rebounds and two assists.

"I want to say a few words about this guy here," Fratello said.

"I don't know if he can play even better than he is now because we always make the player's task to work at maximum capacity.

"He is working every second and I can say that I'm proud to coach him.

"For me, this is the essence of basketball, to fully indulge in the game, work on the court 100%, don't give up no matter what happens, fight for victory until the very end.

"All these features are present in him and I am very glad that he plays in our team."

Germany beat Serbia 59-58 in the other game played on the opening day of the Spor Toto World Cup.

Robin Benzing had 12 points and Tibor Pleiss nine in a balanced attack for Germany, who edged Serbia at last year's FIBA World Championship.

The coach of the Germans, Dirk Bauermann, said: "This was an important step for us compared to the Finland game."

Finland had won their friendly, 79-74.

"We have acted to improve significantly, especially in the first and fourth quarters in an excellent performance," the coach added.

"The victory against the Serbs gives us more confidence and a good rhythm."

Germany and Serbia will play each other at the EuroBasket in Group B.

On Friday, Serbia were due to take on Ukraine and Germany were to face Turkey.

FIBA