It's Sweet 16 For Szolnoki Olaj

Obie Trotter inspired Szolnoki Olaj with 22 points as the Hungarian side qualified for the Last 16

Szolnoki Olaj moved into the Last 16 of the EuroChallenge with a 91-82 victory at Keravnos on Tuesday.

The Hungarian club, which lost the first Group H encounter between the sides, improved to 4-2 and dropped Keravnos to 2-4.

The Cypriot club played well and led until 2:53 remained in the third quarter.

That's when Szolnoki's Péter Grebenár caught a pass from Akos Horvath and powered his way up for a lay-up, a basket that knotted the contest at 56-56.

Obie Trotter followed with a lay-up and then Horvath capped the 8-0 run with a drive.

The decisive spurt for Szolnoki did not come until the fourth quarter, though.

With 7:42 left in the game, Trotter passed to Zoltán Trepák and the veteran center connected from behind the arc for a 71-67 lead.

Horvath then sank two free-throws before Trotter drilled a three-pointer to make it 76-67.

Szolnoki Olaj pulled away, going in front 88-75 when Trotter hit another three-pointer.

The Hungarians were 11 of 22 from long range.

Trotter ended up four of six from behind the arc and led his team with 22 points.

Brandon Gay added 17 points, Julien Mills 16 and Horvath 14.

Szolnoki shot a woeful 12 of 24 at the free-throw line but still won comfortably in the end.

For Keravnos, the 31-year-old center Ales Chan of the Czech Republic had 22 points and Marcus Moore poured in 19.

Quotes Keravnos vs Szolnoki Olaj

Peter Por - Szolnoki Coach:
"I am very happy that we were able to beat a very good team like Keravnos away from home and progress in the competition. We improved our game a lot in the second half especially on defense and this shows in the statistics. It was great teamwork during the whole game and my players stayed focused and played tough."

Akos Horvath- Szolnoki Player:
"I am very happy for my team's historical win also for my country as I think that this is the first time a Hungarian team has progressed in any European competition. During the first half Keravnos came out very hard and controlled the game. We kept believing that we could turn the game around and that there is always 1 or 2 players who could do this. The good thing for us is that we found these players and we won the game."

Panayiotis Yiannaras - Keravnos Strovolou Coach:
"Congratulations to Szolnoki. They played better than us and deserved to win. We simply did not play defense neither did we do any of the things we usually do as a team. I believe that our problem was mental and we lacked the focus necessary for such an important game. This is it now and Europe is over for us. We need to talk this over with the team and focus on winning the Local titles."

William Hatcher - Keravnos Strovolou Player:
"Congratulations to Szolnoki for winning the game. They played better than us and deserved to win. The game came down to defense and physical toughness and we lost on both counts. In games of such magnitude you need to be good on both these parameters we simply were not good enough. We need to improve, stay focused and look ahead of us."