Artland Pull Away Late At Keravnos

Adam Hess sparked the Artland Dragons with his 18 points in an important win

Keravnos had a dream start but ended up falling at home in their EuroChallenge Group H opener to Artland Dragons.

Anthony King had 21 points and 12 rebounds as the German team won in Cyprus, 93-81.

Artland killed Keravnos with their three-point shooting as they made 12 of 25 on the night.

The hosts began with a 27-18 lead but an Adam Hess three-ball with 1:08 to play in the second quarter put the Dragons in front, 42-40.

The home side ended up taking a 45-44 advantage to the break.

Nearly three minutes into the third quarter and Artland appeared to take command.

Behind 50-49, a King lay-up started a 9-0 run.

When David Holston connected from behind the arc with 2:59 to go in the frame, the Dragons' lead was 69-55.

Holston hit another three-pointer to make it 72-57 before the visitors went to the final period on top, 72-60.

Keravnos then came to life with on their own run in the first five minutes of the last quarter, sparked by Winsome Frazier's three-pointer, and tied the game at 72-72.

Artland's former Pinar Karsiyaka guard Holston stopped the rot, though, scoring on a drive and then making another three-pointer.

King followed with back-to-back drives before Jason Strasser hit yet another shot from the arc and sank free-throws to cap the 14-0, game-clinching spurt which had given the visitors an 86-72 lead with just 1:58 remaining.

Hess ended up with 18 points, Darren Fenn 16, Anthony Hilliard 15 and Holston 14 for Artland.

Marcus Moore finished with 18 points in defeat.

Quotes Keravnos vs Artland Dragons

Stefan Koch - Artland Dragons Coach:
"This was a really tough game, as we expected it, and at one point Keravnos was up by 15 points in the 2^nd quarter. However we managed to stabilize the game by half time. Our players showed character, stayed concentrated and eventually managed to win the game. We have enjoyed visiting Cyprus and hope to be able to come back again for a visit."

Anthony King - Artland Dragons Player:
"This was a very tough game and we knew that before coming here. Keravnos has very good players who can also shoot well. At one point we thought that we lost the game but managed to improve both defensively and offensively. We stuck to our principles and eventually won the game. It is very important to win a game on the road and tonight we did just that."

Panayiotis Yiannaras - Keravnos Strovolou Coach:
"I would like to congratulate Coach Koch and his team for a good game and say that they deserved to win. We must learn from our mistakes tonight. We had two "dead periods" in our game tonight and this cost us the game eventually. We will work on this and can not afford to repeat this mistake again. In the end our players lost their concentration and we lost. Artland is a better and stronger team than last year and congratulations to their Coach for achieving this change."

Winsome Frazier - Keravnos Strovolou Player:
"I give credit to all my team-mates and the coach for everything we did tonight. We tried to win and even when we were behind by 15 points we managed to tie the game at 72-72, 5 minutes before the game ended. We gave everything and it seems that we run out of energy in the end and lost our concentration. Eventually we were out-rebounded by the Dragons and they took control. It was a very good game and we will do our best to win on the road."