EUROCHALLENGE

Kyle Weems only spent 23 minutes on the floor against Aalst, but still managed to amass 34 points on almost perfect shooting

Most basketball coaches will tell you that it's not how you start, but how you finish that matters the most.

Kyle Weems however must be a firm believer of the cliché that the early bird catches the worm or, in this case, the weekly MVP award in a European competition.

The Telekom Baskets Bonn forward was in action, along with his team-mates and the players of Okapi Aalstar of course, six days ahead of every other player that took to the court in Week 4 of the EuroChallenge Last 16 and set the bar very high for everyone that followed.

The 23-year-old was almost infallible Wednesday last week as he knocked down 34 points on 14-for-17 shooting from the floor (including 3-of-5 from three-point range) and added three rebounds and one assist, to power his team to a valuable 85-72 home win over the Belgian side in Group L action.

Weems earned Last 16 Week 4 MVP honours as his display was worth an efficiency rating of 35 and when the bulk of this round of games took place this week, nobody managed to outperform him.

Two big men came very close though, and they both did it with outstanding performances in defeat for their respective teams.

William Thomas stayed on the court for 38 minutes on Tuesday in Romania, but could not prevent Pinar Karsiyaka's first defeat in Group I, at the hands of hosts Gaz Metan Medias, 77-69.

It was certainly not for lack of trying on his part though, as the American power forward delivered his best performance in the EuroChallenge this season and one of his best in the five years he has played in this competition.

Thomas made 11 of his 15 shots from the field and finished with a double-double of 28 points and 14 rebounds.

Right behind him, with a rating of 33, was Hapoel Holon center Franklin Hassell.

The linchpin of the Israeli team's frontcourt had 31 points on 12-for-19 shooting from two-point range and added nine rebounds, one assist and one block, but his team fell 101-84 at home to Paris Levallois.

EUROCHALLENGE LAST 16 WEEK 4 EFFICIENCY INDEX - TOP 15