EWE Baskets Oldenburg are finally off the mark in the Eurocup, while one of the season’s more impressive undefeated sides loses its unblemished record.
Oldenburg defeated Spirou Charleroi 72-68 as the Germans raced clear in the third quarter thanks to an 8-0 run, which proved to be the difference despite a late run by the Belgian visitors.
Both teams are at 1-3 records in Group C.
Adam Chubb carried the hosts early with 18 first-half points. He finished with 20 points on perfect 9/9 shooting, plus 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
“We are happy with this first win, although it did not come easy,” Oldenburg coach Sebastian Machowski said. “It is a difficult situation for us, with all these players out. A win with a bigger margin would have been possible, but if you look at our three-point percentage, it is not a surprise having difficulties against a zone defence.
“I have to compliment Chris Kramer, who had to play more than 35 minutes again and still led us to our first victory. Having Julius Jenkins, Casper Ware and Maurice Stuckey back will be crucial for our team. Our plan was to look for our advantages under the basket. Adam Chubb and Philipp Neumann had a great game again. When Charleroi played man to man, our plan worked out perfectly, when they switched to zone, we were not patient enough and forced some shots.”
In Group E, Lietuvos Rytas secured a 92-80 win at home to Banvit, whose undefeated record has come to an end.
An impressive showing from Gediminas Orelik, who scored a career-high 27 points on 5/6 three-point shooting led Rytas to the win, which also got a big push down the stretch from Mindaugas Lukauskis, who scored all of his 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Chuck Davis led Banvit with 20 points, as both teams move to 3-1 records.
Union Olimpija stayed on top of Group D after an 89-84 win over Zenit Sanit Petersburg at the Stozice Arena.
The hosts led by 15 entering the fourth quarter, but Zenit rallied late on the strength of Cameron Jones and Arten Vikhrov, eventually getting a three-point look that would have tied the game.
However Dmitry Kulagin missed from deep and Sasu Salin rounded out a brilliant night for Olimpija with free throws to ice the win.
The Slovenians move to 3-1 in the group, while Zenit drop to 1-3. Sasu Salin led the hosts with 21 points.
We played aggressive defence and we stopped their offense,” Union Olimpija coach Ales Pipan said. “We were also good at rebounding and defence. We had a bad span of minutes in the second half.
“We played slow when we needed to be fast and fast when we needed to calm down. We gave them few balls, which we already won. The experienced players of Zenit executed on that. If my players wouldn’t have missed so many free throws, this game maybe wouldn’t have been so close at the end.”
In Group A, Zaragoza comfortably beat Reggio Emila 93-79 in a game that saw the Liga Endesa side lead 30-6 after the first quarter and never look back.
Rasko Katic led the winners with 18 points, while Andrea Cinciarini paced Reggio Emilia with 17 points.
