The German team fired on all cylinders for three quarters as it tore the Lithuanian side apart in the first half
Chemnitz delighted to get off the mark with a big win over Lietkabelis
Άρθρο
3 Χρόνος Ανάγνωσης
Regular Season
Round 2 of 18
Regular Season
group b
NINERS ChemnitzNIN
8667
Lietkabelis PanevezysLIE
group b
Overview
w
l
l
w
NINERS Chemnitz enjoyed a dream home court debut in the BKT EuroCup as the German side engineered an 86-67 win over Lietkabelis Panevezys after a smooth team effort gave the competition’s newcomers plenty to look forward to.
Heading into the contest after a heartbreaking 89-86 loss at Panionios Athens in Round 1, Chemnitz quickly left any anguish behind as the German outfit produced a flawless first half to take a decisive 53-29 lead against a stunned Lithuanian rival.
Player of the game Kevin Yebo, who racked 13 points and 6 boards, acknowledged that the hosts came out flying before slowing down in the second half as Lietkabelis slashed a 30-point deficit to salvage some pride in a one-sided clash.
“We came out with a lot of energy and executed our shots well,” Yebo said in his postgame comments. “ I wasn’t particularly happy with our second half performance but we finished the game strong and stayed consistent.
“It was our maiden EuroCup win and it’s something special because it’s the first in the history of the NINERS. It’s good to keep an opponent like this one to under 70 points and that was a good job for us.”
With the home side’s vocal fans celebrating long after the final buzzer as Chemnitz players danced in delight around the center circle of the court, head coach Rodrigo Pastore hailed his men for bouncing back from adversity to make history.
“It means a lot,” he said. “We’ve come a long way and we don’t want to stop here, we want to keep looking forward. We want to keep improving as a team and as an organization, with so many challenges ahead of us.
“We showed today that we belong here. Tonight we were intense defensively and on offense we got open shots. I am very proud of the guys and the effort they made.”
In contrast, Lietkabelis was so devoid of energy that it looked like the players had trekked all the way to Germany from Lithuania, much to the dismay of head coach Nenad Canak, who had no excuses for his team’s dreadful performance.
“A disappointing evening for us,” the Serbian tactician conceded. “We were well below par as there was no defense, no running and no physicality on our part. Quite simply, we were zero. We got schooled by Chemnitz and we face a lot of hard work to improve.”