Szolnoki Olaj Come Back But Still Fall At Dragons

In case anyone hasn't noticed, now is not a good time to face Artland Dragons.

The in-form club has been reeling off wins in Germany's top flight, and they also have two victories in the EuroChallenge after Tuesday night's 86-78 home triumph over Szolnoki Olaj.

The Hungarians travelled to Quakenbrück on the back of last week's hammering of Pau Lacq Orthez and trailed for most of the game.

But Artland had a true test of their credentials when Szolnoki Olaj went on a 7-0 run to tie the contest at 64-64 with 5:24 remaining.

Julien Mills hit a jump shot and two free-throws before Marton Fodor knotted the game with a shot from long range.

David Holston, Artland's hero in their weekend overtime triumph against FC Bayern Munich, scored with a drive to put the hosts back in front.

Anthony King followed with a basket for a four-point edge.

Akos Horvath gave the visitors hope when he launched and made a three-pointer, but Artland's Nathan Peavy, who is back to playing again after missing time with an eye injury, sank two free-throws.

Fellow Dragon Johannes Strasser then hit a shot from the arc.

Szolnoki Olaj managed to get the deficit back to four points but ended up falling by eight.

Peavy finished with 32 points and eight rebounds for Artland, while Marton Bader's 16 points and 12 boards led the visitors.

Quotes Artland Dragons vs. Szolnoki Olaj

Szolnoki Olaj Head Coach Peter Por
"Artland had a very good first half. I can't remember when we had 48 points against us in one half the last time. They played disciplined and had a good timing and the better solution to find the open shots. In the second half we played more aggressive, because we knew we had to change something. Nathan Peavy did a reallygood job, had a good percentage. Artland is a much more experienced team in the EuroChallenge. This is only our second season in this competition. I am proud of how we played in the second half."

Artland Dragons Head Coach Stefan Koch
"I have to give a lot of credit to Szolnoki for how they came back in the second half. They had two good individual performances by Obie Trotter and Marton Bader. On our side, everyone saw that Nathan Peavy played a very good game. We started off well, but then got into a cruising mood. But that is not how you can play against a team that won a championship. Instead of increasing the lead we were happy to be up by ten or fifteen points. But we coaches knew Szolnoki would have a run and they had a run. Luckily we survived, but we are not totally happy with this attitude."

Szolnoki Olaj player Marton Bader
"This was our first game against each other, so we didn't know what to expect. We weren't really focussed and didn't follow our game plan. Artland outplayed us. But in the second half we came back, because we played a much better defense. But Artland stopped us, when we needed important points. It's still a loss, but it feels better that it is only by eight points."

Artland Dragons player Nathan Peavy
"It was a tough game for us. We had a good start, came out with the right intensity and focus. We have to give a lot of credit to Szolniki how they pushed us in the second half, when they had more intensity and caused problems on the offensive rebounds. But we take the eight-point-lead and take it to Szolnoki. We have to try to play our game for 40 minutes."