Oostende Catch Eremin By Surprise

Base BC Oostende will have opened eyes with their EuroCup qualifying performance on Tuesday night - none more so than those of BC Triumph Lyubertsy coach Stanislav Eremin, who admitted after the 78-78 tie that his team had been caught cold by the Belgians.

Oostende raced out into a big early lead - up 31-15 at the end of the first quarter - and refused to give in even after BC Triumph caught them in the dying seconds.

After the game, Eremin admitted he had known little about the Belgians coming into the game.

"Oostende played better than us, maybe because they had more information about us than we had about them," he said.

"Oostende lost two games at home by one or two points, but we didn't know the real power of this team. Our starting five didn't defend as well as they needed to."

Eremin also pointed to the injuries affecting his team as Ognjen Askrabic, Egor Vyaltsev and Pavel Sergeev all sat out the game with injury.

"Three players from my team - Askrabic, Vyaltsev and Sergeev got injures and may be it influenced the team because Askrabic for one is a big player for us," he said. "I think they will play in Belgium and will help our team to win."

Oostende coach Vlada Vukoicic admitted he did not know what to think after the game.

While it was an upset on paper, the fact that Oostende were not able to actually take the win - falling short when Michael Bauer came up empty on a last-gasp three-point attempt - took the shine off it for the coach.

"It's unusual to comment on a game where we didn't win or lose," he said. "It's zero-zero. So I'm not happy or disappointed because we didn't win, but we have given ourselves a good chance to get a good result."

Vukoicic credited the hot start - and the element of surprise that helped them take it - for setting up the final result.

"We started the first quarter excellently, we were leading by 16 points, so it was very important for the whole game," he said.

"We have the home game in Oostende so we have some advantage, but it's not too big, because Triumph are a strong team with an experienced coach, and they will play at the highest level in Belgium."

Rashid Atkins led Oostende with 24 points and seven assists while Baxter added 14 points and Ivan Paunic had 12.

Anderson finished as BC Triumph's top scorer with 17 points while former New Jersey Nets star Nenad Krstic scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Quotes BC Triumph vs BC Oostende

Head Coach Vlada Vukoicic (Telindus Oostende):

"It's unusual to comment on a game we didn't win or lose. It is zero-zero. So I'm not happy or disappointed because we didn't win, but we had a good chance to make a good result. We started the first quarter excellently, we were leading by 16 points, which we somehow kept for the whole game. We have a home game in Oostende, and we have some advantage, but it's not too big.

"Triumph is a good strong team with a strong experienced coach."

Head Coach Stanislav Eremin (BC Triumph):

"Oostende played better than us. Maybe because they got more information about us than we had about Telindus. Oostende lost two games at home by 1-2 points, but we didn't know the real power of this team. Our starting five were not defending as they should have.

"Three players of my team - Askrabic, Vyaltsev and Sergeev - were injured and maybe it influenced the team, because Askrabic for example is one of the key big players. I think they will play in Belgium and help our team to win."