CEZ Nymburk established control early and maintained a comfortable lead for the rest of the game to win 85-76 over Basket Swans of Austria for their second triumph in EuroCup Group D.

		Radoslav Rancik

With the game knotted at 9-9 midway through the first quarter, a Radoslav Rancik jump shot sparked a 12-0 run to give the Czech team a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

Rancik hit his shot, and Michel Nascimento stretched the lead to five with a three-point play after being fouled while taking a jumper of his own, before an Adam Hess three-pointer, and baskets from Ladsoslav Sokolovsky and Gintaris Einikis completed the spurt which left Nymburk in front at 21-9 with just over three minutes to play in the opening period.

Nymburk kept the pressure on and held a commanding 54-36 lead at half-time, and though they eased up at the start of the second half, scoring just one point over the first six minutes off the third quarfter, the team from Gmunden never seriously threatened their hosts.

Bob Gonnen, the Swan coach, said: "We have made many mistakes.

"We didn't play smart, we didn't play aggressive and when we let Nymburk take a 10-point lead, then it was difficult to come back into the game.

"The second half was better, but it was not enough. Congratulations to Nymburk."

Swans know that poor starts have cost them dear in the EuroCup.

Petter Hutter, the 1.95m guard for the club, said: "As the coach said, there were two different halves of the game.

"As with the last home match against Khimki Moscow, we had a very bad start to the game and the whole first half and it cost us the whole match."

Nymburk may have prevailed, but they also know a stronger side might have punished them for not putting the game out of reach when they had the chance.

Michal Jezdik, Nymburk's coach, said: "Two different halves. In the first, we played good, aggressive basketball, while in the second half we lost concentration and made many mistakes."

Nevertheless, a win is a win.

"It's an important victory that gives us the chance to go to the next phase of the Cup," said Jezdik.