Both coaches agreed that RheinEnergie Koln's FIBA EuroCup victory over Pallacanestro Cantu on Tuesday came down to the Germans having greater strength in depth.

RheinEnergie won 95-70 to clinch their place in the last eight with one Round II game to spare.

Serbo-Montenegrin forward Aleksandar Nadjfeji claimed 22 points and nine rebounds, with Janar Talts (13 points) and Marcin Tortat (10) also impressing.

But coach Sasa Obradovic felt the contribution made by his replacements was a crucial factor in their victory, with Nikola Vucurovic (11) and Guido Grunheid (9) Koln's most productive players from the bench.

"This was a very important victory for us," said Obradovic.

"Everything was working out, we had a good rotation and played an aggressive defense."

Pino Sacripanti, meanwhile, lamented Cantu's lack of quality behind a double-double from Kebu Stewart, which included 10 rebounds and a game-high 24 points.

Phillip Jones (11) and Davide Lamma (10) were the only other Cantu players to score double figures.

"I am very disappointed, but with this small roster we can't play much better," said Cantu coach Sacripanti.

"Cologne played with much more energy than we did. Our athletic condition is less than usual."

American-born center Dan Gay also pointed to the fitness of the Cantu players.

"We didn't play as hard on defense as we wanted to," he said. "We suffered from a lot of injuries so we played with less intensity.

"We couldn't stop their fast-breaks and let them grab too many offensive rebounds."

The defeat ended Cantu's hopes of reaching the play-offs as they are now 2-3 in Group J while RheinEnergie are 4-1 with Maroussi Honda, who booked their qualification by beating winless Dynamo Moscow Region.