Banvit Score First Win In Group L

Banvit BC recorded their first success in the last sixteen after producing a super second half performance to comeback from a fourteen point deficit and leave hosts Enisey Krasnoyarsk stunned.

The Russian club had looked odds on to inflict a third straight loss on the visitors having looked completely in control and 43-29 ahead shortly before the midway point of the game.

They had started brightly and were always in control with a Dmitry Nikolaev dunk opening up an early 13-4 advantage which they turned into double digits at 29-19 in the second quarter.

However Banvit came out from the locker rooms a different side after the break and began to eat into the lead with a 14-5 run to close out the third period an make it a one-shot game at 53-50.

It had looked like the home team had composed themselves when they re-established a double figure lead at 65-55 with just over seven minutes to go but Banvit then exploded.

They scored an astonishing 27 points in the last seven minutes to complete a fantastic comeback and seal a memorable 82-77 victory.

Baris Ozcan top scored with 20 points and dished up 7 assists for Banvit while team-mates Lance Williams and Charles Davis combined for a further 34 points.

Dmitry Nikolaev was the top scorer in the game with 23 points for the home team.

Quotes Enisey Krasnoyarsk vs. Banvit BC

Orhun Ene, Banvit headcoach:
"It was a really hard game. We had a 23-hour journey to Russia. Also we had 3 important games last week, we won in the game against one of the leaders of the Turkish league and now we won in Krasnoyarsk. I must thank the local spectators and all Russian public for their hospitality, despite of the climate people here are very nice and open.

"As for the game we were losing in the first half, but we needed to win. As you know we have lost two first games of second round of Eurochallenge and to continue to compete for this cup we had to win tonight. So we improved our defense. Very important that we coped with Chalmers, we knew that he is a very important player here in Krasnoyarsk. And we could work out a defense strategy against him. We are strong and experienced team so we fought untill the end of the game and that was fruitful for us. So now we have a chance to compete for the cup."

Banvit player Barış Özcan:
"It is very good that we won in this game. It was our last chance to stay in this championship and we kept it. It was hard to play due to the jet lag and the weather conditions, but we stood up untill the end and we won. It is also important that we played good defense in the second half and had less mistakes and turnovers."

Dmitriy Nikolaev, Enisey forward:
"We lost an important game, nothing positive about it.  I think we failed in the fourth quarter, as usual. I cannot put my finger on the main reason. That could have been tiredness of lack of attention. I think it was the fourth quarter especially defense. As long as we played defense for three quarters the game was normal, but in the end... I really don't understand how it happened.

Ainars Bagatskis, headcoach of Enisey:
"I can't say that we have done something supernatural in the first half. We were playing our game. Main thing we were coming back to play defense quickly. It was clearly seen that Turkish team was not good in position offence. As long as we had the fastbreaks we were scoring and coming home the opponent was in trouble. In the third quarter they made 10 points simply by taking the rebound after we missed and coming to our basket faster than we did. We did not make it back which gave them a few easy points and through that they felt they could play. We, for some reason were trying to win back our failures in defense by quick shots in offence. Everybody tried to be a hero. In the last quarter we shouldn't have end this way. Bad that we start extemporizing in defense in the end. Banvit's 11 shoots more 3-pointers and we knew it and he made the last two shots. There was hope to save our game in the end but we shouldn't have gone so low. We should learn to "finish" our opponent but unfortunately we can't do it. We let them get in the mood and afterwards we don't know how to deal with it. In this game we totally lost rebounds moreover they made a lot of mistakes in the first half and few in the second. And we've done the opposite. And the mistakes or turnovers were childish. The only person who played this game properly was Dima Nikolayev. One more thing to add, when we had to improve our score we missed free-throws. Even on technical fouls and substitutions we made only two points."