EWE Baskets Ease Into Top Spot

Chris Kramer added 9 points and 4 assists for the EWE Baskets as they rolled to a home win over Timisoara

EWE Baskets snatched top spot in Group F of the EuroChallenge with a convincing 84-67 win over BC Timisoara.

The Germans took control early and led almost from post to wire to improve to 2-0.

Timisoara jumped out to a 7-1 lead on Dominique Archie's jump-shot but that was soon erased by the hosts who then just kept on going, reeling off eight straight to take an early 17-9 lead on Konrad Wysocki's lay-up with 3:15 left in the first quarter.

Three-pointers from Julius Jenkins and Christopher Kramer then helped them build a 27-16 lead by the end of the period.

Timisoara improved in the second quarter but not enough to threaten the hosts' lead, and when EWE Baskets opened the third period with a 6-0 spurt they had all but put the game out of reach, going up 53-37 on Rickey Paulding's lay-up.

They then laid it on thick in the fourth quarter, with an 8-0 run capped by Ronald Burrell's lay-up making it 81-53 with 3:29 left.

Burrell finished with 16 points while Jenkins had 13, Robin Smeulders 12 and Wysocki 11.

Zlatko Jovanovic led Timisoara with 19 points while Archie added 14 and Robert Sarovic 10.

Quotes EWE Baskets vs. BC Timisoara

Timisoara head coach Predrag Badnjarevic
"I have to congratulate coach Machowski and his team. They completely deserved this win. They defended better than us and their bench is deeper than ours. We usually don’t play against this kind of team in our league. Plus, we added some new players to our roster. But Oldenburg also controlled the boards and grabbed 24 more rebounds than we did. You just cannot win a game like that."

Timisioara player Bogdan Popescu
"For me it was great coming back to Oldenburg. I loved my time here, love the city, the gym and the facilities. We lost today to a clearly better team. Oldenburg seems to have a great chemistry this year. They dominated us defensively and showed very good teamwork. Our goal is still second place in this group, but it will be tough. We will need to play a lot better in our next home games to have a chance of advancing to the next round."

Oldenburg head coach Sebastian Machowski
"I’m happy we won the game. In addition to hat I’m glad that after the tough game against Bayreuth two days ago none of our players played more than 24 minutes today. I think we played as a team today, defended well and rebounded extremely well.  We are having a good year in the EuroChallenge so far. In the coming weeks we’ll see if we deserve to advance into the second round."

Oldenburg center Robin Smeulders
"In the first half we played a really good game. We showed some nice combinations and worked really hard on the boards. Being 20 points up in the second half we lost concentration and had some lapses in focus and toughness. Our deep bench made the difference today – no matter who played today, everybody delivered and the convincing victory should give us some confidence for the tough games ahead."

Quotes EWE Baskets vs. BC Timisoara

Timisoara head coach Predrag Badnjarevic
"I have to congratulate coach Machowski and his team. They completely deserved this win. They defended better than us and their bench is deeper than ours. We usually don’t play against this kind of team in our league. Plus, we added some new players to our roster. But Oldenburg also controlled the boards and grabbed 24 more rebounds than we did. You just cannot win a game like that."

Timisioara player Bogdan Popescu
"For me it was great coming back to Oldenburg. I loved my time here, love the city, the gym and the facilities. We lost today to a clearly better team. Oldenburg seems to have a great chemistry this year. They dominated us defensively and showed very good teamwork. Our goal is still second place in this group, but it will be tough. We will need to play a lot better in our next home games to have a chance of advancing to the next round."

Oldenburg head coach Sebastian Machowski
"I’m happy we won the game. In addition to hat I’m glad that after the tough game against Bayreuth two days ago none of our players played more than 24 minutes today. I think we played as a team today, defended well and rebounded extremely well.  We are having a good year in the EuroChallenge so far. In the coming weeks we’ll see if we deserve to advance into the second round."

Oldenburg center Robin Smeulders
"In the first half we played a really good game. We showed some nice combinations and worked really hard on the boards. Being 20 points up in the second half we lost concentration and had some lapses in focus and toughness. Our deep bench made the difference today – no matter who played today, everybody delivered and the convincing victory should give us some confidence for the tough games ahead."