MUNICH (FIBA Europe Cup) - Teams that are doing well in the FIBA Europe Cup have traditionally played well on the domestic front as well and the early-season evidence has more or less confirmed this theorem.

In this week's domestic round-up of the weekend action across the continent, we focus on Russia, Germany and Belgium, where three undefeated FIBA Europe Cup teams continued their impressive winning streaks.

Enisey make it three in a row in the VTB League

Over the last couple of weeks, Enisey Krasnoyarsk have been picking up steam both in the FIBA Europe Cup and domestically in the VTB League, combining for five victories in a row on both fronts.

Having started the season with tough losses against CSKA Moscow and UNICS Kazan, coach Oleg Okulov’s side has seemingly found its groove and has been on a three-week long winning streak.

However, the Krasnoyarsk outfit had to go through quite a hassle to get the 81-79 victory away from home against Parma this weekend, coming into the fourth quarter trailing by 11 points.

"We defended poorly in the first half. Those mistakes may have been due to a lack of energy and emotion. The offence also didn't work. Our opponents scored a lot of easy baskets after turnovers. Our job was simply to survive. We played better in the third quarter and then got going in the fourth and earned the win with our defence," said coach Okulov of his team’s performance.

A spectacular display by Tony Taylor gave Enisey a breath of fresh air in a time of need by tying the game with a three-pointer before making the game-winning basket 40 seconds later.

Taylor finished with a game-high 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field. Suleiman Braimoh added 14 points and Frank Elegar chipped in with 13 and 7 boards.

With a couple of other teams having games in hand, Enisey climbed to third place in the extremely competitive VTB League for the time being with a solid 3-2 record.

Telekom Baskets riding momentum in Germany

Telekom Baskets have recently been on somewhat of a roll, with the Bonn side picking up its fourth consecutive victory in the German easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga for its fifth win in a row overall.

In a nail-biting thriller, Predrag Krunic's side came out victorious 74-72 on the road against Science City Jena after a buzzer-beating lay-up by Latvian forward Ojars Silins.

The hosts had tied the score with 1.8 seconds remaining on a huge three-pointer by Julius Jenkins, but Telekom Baskets executed the inbounds play to perfection to snatch the late win.

Josh Mayo led the winners with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, while Silins chipped in with 14 points and 6 boards.

Having arrived as an injury replacement to Ken Horton, Silins has quickly become an important piece on the roster, but his short-term contract is set to expire soon.

"When I came here, I saw immediately from the first minutes that the team chemistry is great, the organisation helps players just to concentrate on playing basketball and the coach trusts us on the court," spoke Silins of the reasons behind the club's success.

I am just happy to play basketball. I am enjoying this moment and I love this team. The organisation is super. Let's see what happens next month."

Having opened its FIBA Europe Cup campaign with a victory against Sodertalje Kings last week, Telekom Baskets will take on Belfius Mons-Hainaut at the Telekom Dome on Wednesday in its second game in the competition.        

Late comeback sees Giants keep perfect record

Port of Antwerp Giants continued their winning streak in the Belgian EuroMillions Basketball League after defeating another FIBA Europe Cup side in Hubo Limburg United over the weekend.

The league-leading Giants came back from behind in the fourth quarter to snatch a 75-70 victory on the road in Hasselt after outscoring their opponents 22-13 in the final period of play.

"Our defence was not good today. Only in the fourth quarter did we up our defence to the required level. The winning streak is nice, but for me it was more important that we were able to overcome a tough situation," said coach Roel Moors who wasn't completely satisfied with the effort despite the win.

Jason Clark put together a phenomenal performance for the Giants, collecting a game-high 28 points and adding 6 assists along the way. Gavin Ware and Mike Smith were the only other players in double figures for the Antwerp club with 17 and 14 points respectively.

Meanwhile, Daniel Jansen finished the game with 16 points and 3 steals for Limburg United.

Having improved to a 6-0 record, the Giants sit atop the league table in Belgium, while Limburg are on the opposite end of the standings with a 1-5 mark and already have plenty of catching up to do.

FIBA