 A career night by Mindaugas Lukauskis fueled EWE Baskets Oldenburg's first win of the Eurocup, 96-73, against Banvit on Tuesday. Lukauskis was outstanding with 26 points, 8 assists and 3 steals in a complete offensive performance against a team that was outrebounded 33-19. The win lifted Oldenburg to 2-1 in Group A and dropped Banvit to the same record. The two teams meet again next week in Turkey. Aron Baynes added 17 points for the winners, Rickey Paulding 16 and Louis Campbell tallied 14 plus 9 assists in a noted offensive and defensive performance. Banvit's leading scorers were Antonio Graves and Lance Williams, with 13 points each, while Ibrahim Yildirim added 10.
Keith Simmons showed Banvit meant trouble on the first possession with a triple and the visitors quickly established a balanced attack with Williams and Vladimir Golubovic working the paint and Baris Ermis and Chuck Davis attacking the basket. A 12-20 lead was as good as it got, though, as EWE had Lukauskis feeling it from tip off, and the forward’s three-pointer at the end of the first quarter settled the score at 22-24. The second quarter started where the first one finished, as Golubovic converted a layup and Lukauskis netted a jumper. Then Paulding got into it with a long range shot to make it 26-29, but neither Mutlu Akpinar could get going for Banvit, nor Oliver Stevic for EWE, as the quarter mirrored the previous one with a 25-22 score and the break was reached with a minimal lead for the hosts, 47-46, after Baynes put them in front with consecutive layups.
Both teams started going to the basket in the second half, and EWE got good penetration form Paulding and Chris McNaughton, although Banvit’s defense was forcing the hosts into more turnovers than EWE head coach Predrag Krunic would care for. An 11-2 run to start the period got him a nice cushion, but Banvit played solid basketball with plenty of Graves touches that got him to the free throw line often, and Williams closed the gap at 70-60 by the end of the third. With EWE Baskets living from long range baskets and Banvit settling more on a low post game with Davis and Golubovic, it was time for Lukauskis shine when it mattered: A couple of layups put his team ahead 78-62 and, with Akpinar suffering turnover and shooting woes on the visiting side, Paulding chimed in with three buckets of his own, including a triple, to close the deal at 99-73 after a devastating 14-2 final run by the home side.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Eurocupbasketball.com
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