Kokila, Salash tag-teamed Bourg's victory in Trento

Bourg soared to 2-0 in Group B as a pair of big men just getting to know each other, Kevin Kokila and Maksim Salash, were unstoppable in Trento.

It wasn't always pretty and it certainly wasn't easy, but Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse stayed perfect by grinding out a gritty 72-79 victory at Dolomiti Energia Trento on Tuesday night, and the frontcourt pairing of Kevin Kokila and Maksim Salash was one of the main reasons why.

Kokila was named in the initial line-up by head coach Frederic Fauthoux and responded by making a very fast start: he scored the opening two baskets of the game, pulled down a rebound at both ends of the floor and drew a foul to make it clear that Trento would have a tough time matching up against him.

Kokila was replaced by Salash towards the end of the first quarter, and the Belarussian also got going quickly, netting his first basket early in the second period to protect Bourg's slender lead.

The same pattern continued all night, with either Kokila or Salash on the floor – they were on the court together for just 65 seconds – and both of them proving extremely effective in everything they did.

Kokila ended with 11 points on 4 of 5 two-point shooting and 3 of 4 free throws. He also added 8 rebounds, an assist and 2 steals for a PIR of 22 during his 19 minutes in the game. Salash, who spent 21 minutes on the floor, had 13 points on 4 of 6 for two-pointers, 1 of 3 from deep and 2 of 2 from the foul line. He also grabbed 4 rebounds, snared 2 steals and blocked a shot for a PIR of 17.

It's just as well that the big man pairing showed shooting accuracy from two-point range, because they were the only Bourg players who did: whereas Kokila and Salash combined for a very creditable 8 of 11 from inside the arc, the rest of the team was pretty awful in that respect with just 7 conversions on 27 attempts.

That stat alone is enough to suggest that the outcome of a tight game might have been very different without the steady contributions of Kokila and Salash, and the Angolan international believes there is much more to come.

"It's only the beginning," said Kokila, who has welcomed no less than seven new teammates – including Salash – on the Bourg roster this season. "Everybody doesn't know each other very well yet, and we lack some things on defense. That's the main point of improvement and when we get that, we will be very hard to stop."

That sounds like a dangerous warning for the rest of the BKT EuroCup, because Tuesday night's tag-team performance showed that Kokila and Salash are pretty hard to stop already.