Krasnoyarsk Survive Late Roanne Comeback

Enisey Krasnoyarsk were pushed to the limit by Roanne Basket on Tuesday but held on for a 75-70 home triumph in the first game of EuroChallenge Last 16 action.

Frederick Warrick led the Russian club with 21 points in the Group L victory.

Roanne began well on Tuesday, reeling off 12 unanswered points in the first quarter to take an 18-9 advantage.

They weren't able to build on the impressive start, though, and Krasnoyarsk's Warrick knotted the game at 24-24 midway through the second quarter.

After several lead changes, the hosts went to the break on top 36-33 with their Latvia national team center Kaspars Kambala having scored 10 points and Warrick nine.

Uchenna Nsonwu and Ralph Mims were in fine fettle for Roanne in the first half.

Nsonwu had nine points and eight rebounds and Mims had eight points.

The French, who won their Regular Season group with five wins and just one defeat, continued to battle and went back in front at 48-47 after Marc-Antoine Pellin's three-ball with 4:06 to go in the third quarter.

Andrey Komarovskiy replied immediately with a three-pointer to spark a 7-0 run for the hosts, only for Roanne to again battle back and pull even at 54-54 on a lay-up by Ousmane Dia.

After Enisey reclaimed the lead, the contest had one more tie at 56-56 just a minute into the fourth quarter after two Etienne Brower free-throws for Roanne.

The Russians scored eight of the game's next nine points and not long after appeared to have victory in the bag with 1:17 remaining after Vladimir Dyachok scored for a 70-59 lead.

Mims hit a shot from the arc and after Dyachok missed from long range, Nicholas Lewis added a three-point play to cut the deficit to five.

Following an offensive foul on Dyachok, Mims went to the other end and buried another three-ball to leave home side clinging to a 70-68 lead with 27 seconds to play.

Ainars Bagatskis, the Enisey boss who is expected to be confirmed next week as the new coach of Latvia, called a timeout.

When play resumed, Sergey Demeshkin was fouled and went to the line but made only the second of two free-throws to give the home team a 71-68 lead with 19 seconds to play.

After a Roanne timeout, Mims had space to launch a shot from long range but missed and Lionel Chalmers grabbed the rebound for Enisey.

He was fouled and made two free-throws for a five-point lead.

Nsonwu nailed a jumper to reduce the arrears to 73-70 but Roanne had to foul to stop the clock and Warrick made them pay, sealing victory with two more free-throws.

Nsonwu could hardly have done much more to help Roanne win.

He finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds and also led the defensive effort with three steals.

Mims ended up with 18 points. He was four of seven from behind the arc.

Quotes Enisey Krasnoyarsk vs. Roanne Basket

Nsonwu Uchenna, Chorale Roanne Basket:

"First of all it was a very good game, we played well, we came out to win, we fought well all the game. Unfortunately one player was injured in the beginning of the game. We've been loosing players for the whole month now, one of our players did not come because he got injured before the trip.  We're young team and it's always pleasant to see a young team fights well, so it was a pleasure to play tonight."

Jean-Denys Choulet, Chorale Roanne Basket:

"Just like our player said and I heard that from other players, it is hard to play with a changing team. Two month ago our three dropped out, and today our main four was injured in the beginning of the game, which made it harder for us, but another player came out instead of him and did what he was told to do and he has done it well, so the game was good."

Vladimir Dyachok Ensey Forward:

"The beginning of the game was a little sleepy for us. Probably we were mentally tired after the victory slipped out from our hands in the game against saint-Petersburg. But later in the second quarter we summoned up something and leveled the game, at some moments we were overtaking, but Roanne is an experienced team and at any chance we were giving them, they caught up with us."

Ainars Bagatskis, Enisey Head Coach:

"We did have information about the French team, so there was no surprise for us from Roanne: Same leaders, same game time. In defense they play very well. As you can see it was a typical French-American team, which covers the zone at first than it goes for three-point shots. When we played without pauses it all worked well, it was hard for opponents to understand who goes where, that gave us points. We also coped with number 8, he shot only seven three-point-shots, in the previous game he made 13."