Pamesa Valencia rode hot shooting from long range to take an important 68-76 Group D road win over winless Deutsche Bank Skyliners in Frankfurt, Germany on Tuesday. The victory left Pamesa with a 5-1 record, still a victory behind first-place Khimki, but third-place SLUC Nancy lost to the leaders. Mindaugas Timinskas was Pamesa's top gun with 20 points. He got help from Albert Miralles, who scored 14 points, while Shammond Williams and Dejan Milojevic add 11 each. Williams also dished 9 assists. The Skyliners, who fell to 0-6 and are flirting with elimination, were led by a dominating Derrick Allen with 25 points, while Ilian Evtimov and Koko Archibong reached double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The home team started well, but it wasn't long before Pamesa dictated the pace and took a 6-13 lead to force a Skyliners timeout. Pamesa then ran away with a 2-5 minibreak, when the Skyliners substituted four players at once, leaving Allen as its only potent offensive force. Even this measure proved to be in vain, as Pamesa was scoring at will and defending with success, leading 17–29 after 10 minutes. The second quarter started as the first, with Allen's 4 points in a row provoking a Pamesa timeout with the difference down to single digits, 27-34. Allen was unstoppable as he isolated for another basket while Frankfurt’s second unit forced bad shots by the guests. Skyliners kept closing the gap with every attack, forcing another Pamesa timeout with the scoreboard showing 31-36. Stanko Barac stepped up for the visitors, blocking Allen's shot and slamming the ball home to end the first half at 34-41 for Pamesa. The visitors ran off the first 4 points of second half, getting a double-figure lead once again. Skyliners fought back with 5 straight points, but Pamesa kept extending its lead from downtown. By the time the scoreboard read 39-54, the visitors had made 9 of 13 three-pointers. Nino Garris came off the bench to break the home team’s spell from long range and Dominik Bahiense de Mello finished a fastbreak in style for a 6-0 Skyliners' run to reduce the gap to single digits again, 45-54. Nonetheless, Pamesa used foul shots to maintain a 47-60 lead with one quarter left. Pamesa’s three-point festival continued as Timinskas hit yet another long-range bomb, although Evtimov anwered in the same manner twice in a row, making it a single digit game once again. Timinskas made a layup and added a three-pointer, which were countered by Archibong and Evtimov in the same manner, as the home crowd was getting louder. However, the home team’s engine seemed to have run empty as the Skyliners were unable to make one last decisive run and Pamesa held on for a 68-76 road victory.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Georg Chernyak, Frankfurt
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