It was not his best shooting night but Kevin Yebo found plenty of ways to help his team
Yebo's energy leads Chemnitz to quality win at Lietkabelis
Spielbericht
3 Lesezeit
Regular Season
Round 11 of 18
Regular Season
group b
Lietkabelis PanevezysLIE
7985
NINERS ChemnitzNIN
group b
Overview
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NINERS Chemnitz has been on a roll lately, winning three of its last four games to climb to 5-6 in Group B and improve its chances to reach the BKT EuroCup Playoffs in its first season in the competition. On Tuesday, Chemnitz edged Lietkabelis Panevezys 79-85, protecting its paint really well for the best part of the game and finding Kevin Yebo every time the team needed a go-to guy.
The 29-year-old center is in his second stint with Chemnitz, which he helped win the FIBA Europe League in 2024. He went on to play for FC Bayern Munich but things did not go as planned; Yebo averaged 2.3 points in 15 EuroLeague games. He decided to return to Chemnitz before the end of the 2024-25 season and has been showcasing his all-around skills all season long, averaging 19.7 points and 6.6 rebounds for a PIR of 21.9 in 10 EuroCup games this season.
Yebo struggled from beyond the arc against Lietkabelis, making just 1 of 7 attempts from three-point range. He made sure he did everything else right, getting 16 points on 11-of-12 free-throw shooting, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. He drew a club-record 13 fouls, which was 1 foul drawn away from the competition record, shared by Randy Duck, Andre Hutson, Armando Costa, Matt Walsh and Fatts Russell of U-BT Cluj-Napoca. Russell was the last player to do so, earlier this season against Neptunas Klaipeda on October 7.
Yebo's effectiveness allowed Lietkabelis to shoot the ball better and more often both inside the arc and from the free throw line. Chemnitz made 23 of 29 free throws (79.3%) and 19 of 29 two-pointers (65.5% 2FG). Lietkabelis finished the game shooting 19 of 44 on two-pointers (43.2%) and 11 of 17 free throws (64.7%).
Without the injured Corey Davis Jr. and Kaza Kajami-Keane, Nike Sibande stepped up with a career-high scoring effort of 17 points,
"We stick together, we wanted to have fun. That's what we did and that's why we played like today," Yebo said. "Wins are always good, but how we stepped out of the losing streak and came out here with two guys down, that's where I see a big change and how we deal with the losses. It was good."
"I like the energy on the bench. It was a team performance today. Everybody contributed, even the guys that didn't step in. They stayed positive, always encouraging their teammates," Chemnitz head coach Rodrigo Pastore said. "We saw what we wanted to see as coaching staff. A group playing basketball the right way, together. I think the basketball Gods rewarded us in the end."
Chemnitz hopes to finish 2025 style with a big challenge in front of its fans, as it hosts mighty Besiktas GAIN Istanbul in Round 12.
