Ventspils Make It Two In A Row

BK Ventspils claimed an important win in the EuroChallenge with a 74-61 home victory over EWE Baskets.

The Latvian side began the Last 16 with two defeats in Group I but have now won two straight, including last week's impressive road triumph at Roanne.

Germans EWE Baskets, who went unbeaten in the Regular Season, have fallen to 2-2 in this phase of the competition.

EWE Baskets had a slender lead for most of the first six minutes of the contest but Ventspils tied the game at 11-11 with a Jahmar Young three-pointer and then took the lead for good with a fast-break lay-up by Ronalds Zakis.

Young followed with a jumper on another break and then Arturs Berzins buried a shot to cap the 9-0 spurt for a 17-11 advantage.

Young led Ventspils with eight points in the opening frame.

Ronald Burrell split a pair of free-throws to cut the gap to 22-19 early in the second quarter but Steven Gray answered with a three-ball and Martins Meiers followed with another basket to take the Ventspils lead to 27-19.

EWE Baskets ended the first half strong with free-throws by Robert Brown and a jumper by Adam Chubb to reduce the arrears to 33-28.

Chubb had eight points but Ventspils were doing a good job of keeping guard Kenneth Hasbrouck quiet, limiting him to just two points.

Meiers had nine points at the break for the hosts.

A Chubb jumper early in the third quarter left Ventspils with just a one-point lead but Young replied with a three-pointer and Meiers a jump shot to take the advantage back to 38-32.

Ventspils then took command, going in front 56-41 with a long-range shot from Berzins.

The visitors got to within 10 early in the fourth quarter but Berzins nailed a three to push the lead back to 65-52 and they coasted to victory.

Young finished with 18 points and Gray 14 for Ventspils.

Brown had a game-high 21 points in defeat, and Chubb ended up with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Quotes BK Ventspils vs. EWE Baskets

Gundars Vetra , head coach BK Ventspils:
"I am happy with today's victory. It was a good quality game. It seems that my team has found their team frame. This frame helped us to keep strong against our oponents during the whole game. Of course, there were ups and downs, but overall it is good that we managed to keep the team frame during the game and we should maintain this level for the next games."

Martins Meiers, BK Ventspils:
"I want to congratulate my team for a victory with such a big points diference. There were some small things that we could have done better during the game, however we managed to fulfill the game plan that we prepared together with our coach."

Predrag Krunic, head coach EWE Baskets:
"We missed our chance to win this game. Defensively we worked well, on the rebounds too, but offesively we did not made some open shots. Without that it was difficult to win this game. Congratulations to the home team for this win."

Adam Chubb, EWE Baskets:
"It was a difficult game, we came out strong. But after a bad game in the first quarter, we could not find the way to come back . Our oponents were stronger than us today."