 Asseco Prokom registered its first win in Group B by thrashing Sluc Nancy 91-62 in Sopot, Poland on Wednesday night. Prokom bounced back from its initial loss in Group B to improve to 1-1, while Nancy dropped to 0-2 and needs to start winning right away to keep its Top 16 chances alive. Daniel Ewing paced the winners with 32 points on 7-for-9 two-pointers and 6-for-8 three-pointers. David Logan had 18, Pat Burke added 16 while Filip Dylewicz got 12 for Prokom, that rolled in the second half to register a big home win. Cyril Julian led Nancy with 17 points. Lamayn Wilson added 16, Serge Tchicamboud had 14 while Ricardo Greer got 10 for the guests. Nancy bounced back from a slow start and used a 0-8 run that Wilson capped with his second three-pointer to get a 14-19 edge after 10 minutes. Prokom found a go-to guy in Burke, who had 12 points in the second quarter alobe to get a 32-31 edge at halftime. Ewing took over after the break with 14 points, including four bombs from downtown, in the third quarter. He led Prokom to get a 13-point lead, 60-47, after 30 minutes. Ewing soon boosted Prokom's margin to 65-47 and the hosts never looked back.
Both teams struggled to score for almost 2 minutes until Logan stepped up with a floating layup. Nancy, as usual, ran its offense through Ricardo Greer but it was Julian who finally scored with a jump hook. Ewing immediately replied at the other end for a 5-2 Prokom edge. Ricardo Greer and Julian made free throws, while Prokom failed to find its scoring rhythm until Logan struck from downtown to put the hosts back ahead, 8-6. John Cox fired in a baseline jumper for Nancy that Piotr Szczotka matched with a power basket for Prokom. Logan kept pacing Prokom with a fastbreak layup but Wilson nailed a triple to get Nancy within 12-11. Burrell shined with a high-flying tip-in before Ricardo Greer and Tchicamboud tied it at 14-14 for the guests. Nancy now dominated the boards while Tchicamboud scored in transition and Wilson added a seven-meter bomb to give the guests a 14-19 lead after 10 minutes.
Logan sank a five-meter jumper while Burke scored in the low post to provoke a Nancy timeout at 18-19, early in the second quarter. Prokom kept excelling on defense while Burke followed an acrobatic layup with a turnaround jumper to put Prokom back in front, 22-19. Nancy had been scoreless for more than 3 minutes already while an unstoppable Burke beat the shot clock with a jump hook to cap a 10-0 Prokom run. Tchicamboud tried to change things for Nancy while Ricardo Greer scored in transition for a 24-23 deficit. Filip Dylewicz shined with a layup for Prokom that a red-hot Tchicamboud improved with a steal and three-point play to tie 26-26. Prokom kept running its offense through Burke, who scored twice more in the low post. Ewing added a floating layup to punctuate a 6-0 run at 32-26, but Nancy reacted with Wilson burying another three-pointer while Ricardo Greer scored in penetration to cut the difference to the minimum, 32-31 at halftime.
After the intermission, Ewing took over with a driving basket that Jeff Greer matched for Nancy with a put-back dunk. Ewing insisted with a quick layup and a corner three-pointer while Adam Hrycaniuk hit free throws to give Prokom some fresh air at 41-35. Julian tried to keep Nancy in the game but Ewing - who else? - answered from downtown to make it a seven-point game, 44-37. After Julian sank free throws, Logan launched another big three-pointer, while Nancy struggled to find the basket. Burrell had a huge block on Wilson but Tchicamboud nailed a triple for to bring Nancy within 48-44. Logan immediately answered with a long two-pointer to which Burke added an outstanding reverse layup. After Wilson hit a put-back for Nancy, Ewing broke the game open with consecutive three-pointers that gave Prokom its first double-digit lead, 58-47. Finally, Logan finished his amazing quarter by feeding Dylewicz for a tomahawk dunk that boosted Prokom's lead to 60-47 after 30 minutes.
Nancy needed a quick comeback to get back in the game and Tchicamboud tried to ignit one with free throws. Prokom quickly called timeout to improve its intensity at both ends. Ewing quickly delivered with a wild driving layup and soon fired in his fifth three-pointer to seal the outcome, 65-47, with 7 minutes to go. Both teams fought now for points differential, a critical issue in case two or three-way ties involving both teams would take place at the end of the regular season. Prokom stayed focused, as Dylewicz and Burke combined for 7 quick points for a 72-53 margin. Ewing stayed unstoppable, as Prokom boosted its lead to 79-54, allowing its fans to celebrate a massive home win.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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