Telekom Made To Fight For Win

Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann made a useful 15-point contribution for Telekom Baskets

Telekom Baskets wrapped up their successful EuroChallenge Group L campaign with an 86-72 victory but they were made to work for it by Tsmoki-Minsk.

Having already secured their place in the quarter-finals alongside fellow German club EWE Baskets, Telekom scored win number four of the group stages with a solid if hardly rousing victory over the group's basement boys.

Indeed, they found themselves trailing for large parts of the first half, with a 7-0 spurt powering the visitors into a 23-16 lead on Vidas Ginevicius' jump-shot early in the second quarter.

Telekom realised that this was not going to get it done and swiftly responded with a 12-1 run that put them 28-24 up on David McCray's three-pointer.

Dzianis Korshuk responded in kind for the visitors as the teams traded blows before the half-time buzzer arrived with Telekom leading 43-35.

Jared Jordan's jump-shot and Benas Veikalas started the second half by giving Telekom their biggest lead at 48-35.

But just in case there was any complacency creeping into Telekom's game, they were given a wake-up call with a 10-0 Tsmoki charge making it 48-45 on Tierre Brown's jump-shot.

Veikalas and Kyle Weems led the Telekom response and the latter's dunk made it 65-57 before the end of the period.

This time Telekom had learned their lesson and they successfully held the visitors at arm's length the rest of the way.

Jonas Wohlfarth-Botterman and Weems led Telekom with 15 points each while Veikalas and Chris Ensminger collected 10 each.

Brown's 18 points led Tsmoki with Aliaksandr Pustahvar and Korshuk adding 14 apiece.

Quotes Telekom Baskets vs. Tsmoki-Minsk

Telekom Baskets Bonn head coach Michael Koch

"It has been a difficult game for us, as we turned it into our favour to gain some self-esteem in the long run. Now that we are facing Samara we are very aware of the fact, that we are the heavy underdogs, but it is an exciting challenge for us as well. In the upcoming best-of-three series there is not much room for preparation and adjustments. That is why I'm happy my team built great chemistry and a high confidence level over the last couple of weeks"

Telekom Baskets Bonn player David McCray

"It took us some time to get focused before building and finally containing a lead. With this in mind - even when we had five German players on the floor over the last five minutes - we not just wanted to defend, but extend the gap in our favor."

Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Andrei Krivonos

"We wanted to take hold of the opportunity to bring in several young players who did not play much in the last international games before. It has been a nice game for us in a nice city against a well-coached team in front of a great atmosphere."

Tsmoki-Minsk player Tierre Brown

"We came in short-handed with two of our starters out. In EuroChallenge play you have to be ready at both ends of the floor at any given time, which we could not get done down the stretch. We played a great team that deserves to move forward to the next round."

Quotes Telekom Baskets vs. Tsmoki-Minsk

Telekom Baskets Bonn head coach Michael Koch

"It has been a difficult game for us, as we turned it into our favour to gain some self-esteem in the long run. Now that we are facing Samara we are very aware of the fact, that we are the heavy underdogs, but it is an exciting challenge for us as well. In the upcoming best-of-three series there is not much room for preparation and adjustments. That is why I'm happy my team built great chemistry and a high confidence level over the last couple of weeks"

Telekom Baskets Bonn player David McCray

"It took us some time to get focused before building and finally containing a lead. With this in mind - even when we had five German players on the floor over the last five minutes - we not just wanted to defend, but extend the gap in our favor."

Tsmoki-Minsk head coach Andrei Krivonos

"We wanted to take hold of the opportunity to bring in several young players who did not play much in the last international games before. It has been a nice game for us in a nice city against a well-coached team in front of a great atmosphere."

Tsmoki-Minsk player Tierre Brown

"We came in short-handed with two of our starters out. In EuroChallenge play you have to be ready at both ends of the floor at any given time, which we could not get done down the stretch. We played a great team that deserves to move forward to the next round."