RheinEnergie Köln erased memories of their agonising defeat to Bremerhaven to make a flying start to the New Year with a 71-53 triumph over Sellbytel Baskets Nürnberg.

Last year had ended on a sour note for Sasa Obradovic's side when victory was snatched from them at the buzzer by Bremerhaven in an 80-79 defeat, ending a six-game unbeaten run which had fired Köln into the top five.

However, the disappointment has been immediately wiped away with a confidence-boosting win over Nürnberg.

RheinEnergie cruised into the game and opened up an 11-point lead after 10 minutes thanks to the pin-point accuracy of Immanuel McElroy and Marcin Gortat.

The advantage was extended to 37-21 at the interval as Gortat took his tally to 12 points allowing Obradovic to shuffle his pack and rest key players while offering experience to fringe players, including youngster Philip Schwethelm.

The 16-year-old enjoyed five minutes of action, converting three of four free throws and showing little sign of nerves on his first-team debut.

The win took Köln back into the top five and they head into next weekend's game with struggling BSEnergy Braunschweig full of confidence.

Köln then host Maroussi Honda in the EuroCup next Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Bremerhaven remain hot on the heals of Bundesliga leaders ALBA Berlin thanks to a 83-82 win over Giessen 46ers.

Defending champions GHP Bamberg moved into third place with a 90-72 success over the Bayer Giants Leverkusen, leap-frogging EWE Baskets Oldenburg who were beaten 94-85 by TBB Trier.

Telekom Baskets Bonn slipped further down the rankings after losing 79-76 at home to EnBW Ludwigsburg.