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Towers overpowered again

Wednesday 20 November 1996 00:02 GMT
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Basketball

A crowd of 6,000 jeered and whistled London Towers to a 70-61 defeat against PTT Ankara in Turkey yesterday, their fifth defeat out of eight in the European Cup first-round qualifying group, writes Richard Taylor.

London's key American playmaker, Danny Lewis, fouled out with 12 minutes to play as the Budweiser League champions trailed throughout the entire game. But the crucial blow came before the game when 6ft 8in veteran Alan Cunningham was ruled out with a calf injury.

Ankara joined group leaders of Verona in completing the double over London after beating them 72-61 at Wembley last month. Yesterday American Ricky Winslow led Ankara's scorers with 24 points, supported by 19 from Turkish international Pinar Sedat.

London's statistics reflected their struggle with Lewis fouling out on just eight points and England internationals Karl Brown and Neville Austin scoring seven and six respectively. Paul Deppisch topped their scorers with 16 points and his two three-pointers kept them in touch at 33-27 down at half-time. American Joe Hooks and Martin Gottfried scored 11 each.

London can still qualify in fourth place from the six-team group but must at least win their final home game against Yugoslavia's Podgorica in two weeks before their last fixture against Mark Kormend in Hungary.

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