MUNICH (FIBA Europe Cup) - An action-packed second week of the FIBA Europe Cup Second Round closed the curtain on 2016, as teams dispersed for a two-week winter break and will only resume play in January.

John Roberson of Elan Chalon was king in return to Sodertalje, Telekom Baskets forward Ken Horton had himself a feast in Oberwart, collecting a ranking of 30 in record pace, while Vitalis Chikoko missed for the first time since October and Pau-Lacq-Orthez also saw its winning streak snapped in Romania.

1

Nanterre 92 became the last team standing with a perfect record after U-BT Cluj-Napoca inflicted the first defeat of the season on Pau-Lacq-Orthez at home in Romania.

The Cluj-Napoca side limited Elan Bearnais to under 70 points for the first time this season, while Aleksandar Rasic took care of business on the other end of the floor, scoring 21 points and dishing out 7 assists, as the hosts triumphed 79-69.

Meanwhile, the short-handed Nanterre earned its eighth consecutive victory in the FIBA Europe Cup, beating Bnei Herzliya 73-55 on the road in Israel in spite of basically playing with a seven-man rotation.

6

Demir Insaat guard Osiris Eldridge matched the FIBA Europe Cup season-best in steals against Prievidza, helping Buyukcekmece to secure a 101-75 victory in Slovak Republic.

The high-flying 28-year-old American player scored 14 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished out 7 assists and racked up 6 steals. Interestingly enough, Eldridge has recorded at least one steal in all seven games in the competition this year and is one of the leaders in the category with 2.1 takeaways per game.

17

Redwell-Gunners Oberwart put up a good fight against the in-form Telekom Baskets, but had to concede an 83-64 defeat after the German club outscored the Austrian hosts 29-12 in the third quarter.

The teams met for the first time since their initial meeting in the 1997-1998 season of the Korac Cup and the outcome of the game in Oberwart was relatively similar, with Bonn breaking away in the second half for a 105-84 victory.

18

Former Sodertalje Kings guard John Roberson returned to Sweden to face his old club as a member of Elan Chalon. Having only moved to France last year, the point guard, a three-time Swedish champion with the Kings, is still quite an icon in Sodertalje.

In spite of a warm reception, the playmaker still served a John Roberson-special at the Taljehallen, scoring 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and adding 6 assists in a convincing 86-63 victory for the visitors from Chalon-sur-Saone.

22

Telekom Baskets forward Ken Horton needed just 22 minutes of playing time to claim the weekly Top Performer honours, scoring 24 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and coming up with 2 steals and a block for a total efficiency index of 33.

It was the quickest anyone this season has managed to reach a ranking of 30 this season. Previously, the record belonged to Alba Fehervar swingman Justin Edwards, who did it in 25 minutes against Elan Chalon in the Regular Season.

26

After not missing from the field in the FIBA Europe Cup since October, Vitalis Chikoko’s run finally came to an end in Cluj-Napoca, with the Zimbabwean big man missing not one, but two shots.

Having started the game by making his first basket, the 25-year-old post player put his overall tally to 26 consecutively made field goals before missing his only two other shots of the game.

Chikoko failed to register double digits in scoring for the first time this season, finishing the game with a season-low 2 points and 3 rebounds.

40

Nanterre 92 playmaker Chris Warren did not get a single second of rest in Herzliya, collecting 17 points, 5 rebounds and 12 assists to help the undermanned French side earn a 73-53 win in Israel.

126

We are well into the second part of the second half of the season in terms of games played, with a total of 126 fixtures already in the books after the conclusion of the Regular Season and the first two weeks of the Second Round. The rest of the way, only 78 games remain and a victory in each one of them as we get closer to the tail end of the season will only get more and more valuable.

FIBA