Ankara, Sep 6 (IANS): Turkey's chances of advancing to Round 2 of EuroBasket 2013 took a major blow with a 75-90 loss to Italy.
Italy defeated the Turks Thursday thanks to its "big three", Pietro Aradori, who had 23 points, Alessandro Gentile, who put up 20 points and San Antonio's Marco Belinelli, who scored another 17, reports Xinhua
The Italians finished the first quarter with a 22-19 lead and by halftime they had opened up a 44-34 lead.
Italy pulled further away from an ineffective Turkish defence in the third quarter, scoring from distance with ease, to enter the last quarter with a 17-point lead.
With only the top three in the six-team group having a chance to advance to the second round, Turkey will face an uphill battle with Sweden to avoid elimination.
Turkey will take on Greece on Saturday.