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The Club Scene: PGE Turow
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  There is no time like the present for PGE Turow Zgorzelec, the most pleasant surprise in Europe's second competition last season. Nobody expected Turow to go far during its 2007-08 debut in the ULEB Cup, but the club beat all expectations with an unbelievable run to the Final Eight. Turow not only looks strong yet again this season, but in opening week, already beat its own single-game defensive record by allowing just 39 points in a massive road win against Brose Baskets. Its great recent form becomes even more unbelievable if you consider that Turow started the new millennium in the Polish League third division. Its hard work paid off and by 2005 when, already in the first division, Turow reached the Polish League semifinals. In just its second season in European club competitions, Turow is no longer an unknown team, but one of the favorites to go really deep in the newborn Eurocup.
Turow Zgorzelec was founded in 1948 as a football club called KS "Gornik" Turoszow. A tennis section emerged in three years later and the club changed its name to Klub Sportowy "Turow" in 1961. New sports sections were opened in the mid-sixties and basketball started in the club back in 1965. The club moved to its current location in Zgorzelec a year after that. Some big basketball talents grew up in the club, such as Mieczyslaw Mlynarski and Jerzy Binkowski, coached by a legend in Polish basketball, Jan Gruca. Turow soon showed its power by winning consecutive Polish League junior titles in 1977 and 1978. In fact, 1978 was a key year for Turow, as it also reached the Polish League elite for the first time, only to go back to the second division in 1979. Despite its success in the late 1970s and a Polish League junior final in 1984, the team faded into obscurity in the 1990s.
The road back to the Polish League started in 1997, when the team was promoted to the Polish third division, only to fall back down in 1998. It was not until 2001 when the club reached the Polish second division and managed to improve to become a dominant force at that level. The club's next decision says a lot about why it's a force in the Eurocup today. Before the 2003-04 season, Turow received an invitation to join the Polish first division and had the budget to compete there. Instead, the club declined, opting to earn its way to the first division on the playing court. That is exactly what happened the following season, as Turow won the Polish second division and reached the top league for just the second time in club history.
 Turow did not hesitate to invest on good players for its Polish League return after more than 25 years. Grzegorz Mordzak was its team captain and players like Sebastian Machowski, Charles Bennett, Yann Mollinari, Chris Young and Wojciech Szawarski were its main stars. Turow opened the 2004-05 season with a big road win against Slask Wroclaw. It was the start of a four-game winning streak that shocked everyone in Polish basketball. Far from being done, Turow finished fourth at the end of the regular season with a 13-9 record, including seven road wins. Turow swept its best-of-five quarterfinal series against Astoria Bydgoszcz to start the playoffs, but perennial Polish champion Prokom was waiting in the best-of-seven semifinals, downing Turow 4-1. Turow reloaded for the 2005-06 season, keeping pass-first playmaker Mollinari and adding Andrzej Pluta or Radoslav Hyzy. The club returned to the quarterfinal playoffs, facing Anwil Wloclawek and losing in three games.
A turning point was needed to carry on growing the team and Turow managed to find the right man for the right moment, none other than head coach Saso Filipovski. He brought with him a couple of players with Euroleague experience who had worked with him at Union Olimpija: playmaker Andres Rodriguez and power forward Dragisa Drobnjak. Its star signing, however, was Thomas Kelati, who came off a slow Belgian League season in Dexia Mons but fulfilled all his potential at Turow. Robert Witka, Lukasz Koszarek, Krzysztof Roszyk, Vjeko Petrovic and Lance Williams rounded a deep, solid frontcourt in which defense always came first. Turow reached the Polish Cup semifinals and was second at the end of the Polish League regular season with a 19-7 record. Kelati averaged 25 points as Turow swept Atlas Stal Ostrow in the quarterfinals. Turow did not find much trouble beating Slask Wroclaw 4-1 in the semifinals to face Prokom in the best-of-seven title series. Turow lost Game 1 by 78-77 in overtime and Prokom ended up winning the series 4-1 to repeat as champ. Turow had accomplished plenty, however, including the right to take part in the 2007-08 ULEB Cup, its debut in European club competitions.
 Due to the competition restrictions for minimum arena capacity, Turow had to play its ULEB Cup home games in nearby Czech Republic town Liberec. Nobody expected Turow to go deep in the competition, but the team beat all the expectations by far. With Kelati, Drobnjak, Witka, Petrovic and Rodriguez back, coach Filipovski needed a scoring ace and found one in David Logan, the missing piece on the puzzle. Turow simply rolled in the regular season against teams like Unics Kazan, 2004 ULEB Cup champion Hapoel Migdal, Zadar and Strasbourg. Turow broke an all-time ULEB Cup defensive record by limiting Strasbourg to 42 points in a home game. It was the start of a seven-game winning streak in which Turow downed Unics twice and registered three road triumphs. Turow won its regular season group and had to face Czech powerhouse Nymburk in the Last 32 round. Ironically enough, both game would be played in the Czech Republic. Turow survived a tough battle that went down to the wire, as both teams tied in the first leg. Logan had 23 points in the second leg, which Turow won 68-66 to advance to the Last 16 against Kyiv. An outstanding first leg saw Turow upset Kyiv 59-71 behind 25 points from Logan and 22 from Kelati. Kyiv fired back in the second leg but Logan scored the key basket to save the series, 58-67, down the stretch. Turow had made it to the ULEB Cup Final Eight against all odds and in an unbelievable way.
Once at the big event in Torino, Turow had to face mighty Dynamo Moscow and stayed in the game for 25 minutes, trailing 48-42 early in the third quarter. Dynamo happened to be too strong in the end, as ULEB Cup MVP Henry Domercant fired in 4 shots from downtown in the third quarter and Turow never recovered. Back in Poland, Turow won the regular season and downed Kotwica Kolobrzeg and Slask to once again reach the final against Prokom, this time with the home court advantage. It all went down to the final game in Zgorzelec, as Turow survived with a 69-74 road win in Game 6. Once in do-or-die Game 7, Prokom topped Turow 70-76 behind 36 points from an unstoppable Milan Gurovic to win yet another Polish League title. Turow is now ready to bounce back and become the team to beat in Poland this season. Having already shown that its defense is one for the record books, expect Turow to be a hard-to-beat opponent for anybody this Eurocup season.
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Friday, November 28, 2008
Javier Gancedo, Eurocupbasketball.com
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