Khimik Cling On To Take First Win

Vitaliy Kovalenko took Khimik to their maiden win in the Last 16, scoring 14 points

Khimik Yuzhne hung on down the stretch to get off the mark in Group K, edging the Norrkoping Dolphins 81-76 for their first win in the EuroChallenge Last 16.

After a tense first half that saw the lead change hands no less than 12 times, Khimik made a break for it early in the third quarter with a quick 8-0 spurt giving them a 51-42 lead on Sava Lesic's lay-up.

A three-point play from Vernon Goodridge moments later pushed it to double figures at 56-46.

But the Dolphins did not go away and six unanswered points had them back within four, 62-58, on Christian Maraker's free throw early in the fourth quarter.

That set up a tense finish to the game, with the gap closing to 72-70, 91 seconds from the finish, when Edgars Jeromanovs scored four straight points.

Khimik responded with free throws from Goodridge and Willie Deane to pull clear once more, and although Keith Gabriel nailed a three-pointer with 38 seconds left, the visitors would hold them off from the charity stripe.

Vitaly Kovalenko led Khimik with 14 points while Stanislav Zavadskyi added 12 and Deane and Sergiy Popov collected 11 each.

Jeromanovs led the Dolphins with 22 points while Gabriel added 17 and Joakim Kjellbom 10.

The result leaves both teams at 1-2 in the group.

Quotes Norrköping Dolphins vs. Khimik Yuzhne

Norrköping player Keith Gabriel
"They came out and fought hard. They pushed us a lot. I think we missed too much, and we pretty much crumbled in the end. They were definitively physical, they set the tone early. I never played a team that plays that physical, you had to fight for every centimeter. They beat us down. But that is how basketball is supposed to be and we will learn from it and get better."

Khimik player Stanislav Zavadsky
"Dolphins is a very dangerous three point shooting team and play good together. We prepared for this. I think we came out better in the second half where we played better defense."

Dolphins head coach Paul Burke
"We are right there and we take the leadat half time even though they have 14 or 15 more shots by half time. If we had made all our shots we maybe would have been up with more points. This team played really aggressive today and I told the guys to take advantage of this in half time. But you got to give them credit too because they executed their plays really well and played tough. It is unfortunate because we could have had this game but you cannot have 19 turnovers on this level. The game tonight is above anything in the Swedish league. But we built a good team here and you see constant development. But I think they beat us today. Their coach did a good job.

Khimik head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic
"We have a very difficult schedule in Ukraine; we play two times a week and we did not have that much time to prepare. I really like how this team plays, they play differently than other teams and I liked that a lot. When we were scouting we looked at all of that and knew that we had to play really hard. The third quarter was our key moment. Today I think we played good in defense and not so good in offense. But it was good basketball out there tonight, a lot of good basketball moments."

Quotes Norrköping Dolphins vs. Khimik Yuzhne

Norrköping player Keith Gabriel
"They came out and fought hard. They pushed us a lot. I think we missed too much, and we pretty much crumbled in the end. They were definitively physical, they set the tone early. I never played a team that plays that physical, you had to fight for every centimeter. They beat us down. But that is how basketball is supposed to be and we will learn from it and get better."

Khimik player Stanislav Zavadsky
"Dolphins is a very dangerous three point shooting team and play good together. We prepared for this. I think we came out better in the second half where we played better defense."

Dolphins head coach Paul Burke
"We are right there and we take the leadat half time even though they have 14 or 15 more shots by half time. If we had made all our shots we maybe would have been up with more points. This team played really aggressive today and I told the guys to take advantage of this in half time. But you got to give them credit too because they executed their plays really well and played tough. It is unfortunate because we could have had this game but you cannot have 19 turnovers on this level. The game tonight is above anything in the Swedish league. But we built a good team here and you see constant development. But I think they beat us today. Their coach did a good job.

Khimik head coach Zvezdan Mitrovic
"We have a very difficult schedule in Ukraine; we play two times a week and we did not have that much time to prepare. I really like how this team plays, they play differently than other teams and I liked that a lot. When we were scouting we looked at all of that and knew that we had to play really hard. The third quarter was our key moment. Today I think we played good in defense and not so good in offense. But it was good basketball out there tonight, a lot of good basketball moments."