EWE Baskets blow out Enisey Krasnoyarsk in Russia

KRASNOYARSK (Basketball Champions League) - EWE Baskets Oldenburg avenged their season-opening defeat to Enisey Krasnoyarsk by rolling to a 79-53 victory over the Basketball Champions League strugglers in Russia on Wednesday.

EWE Baskets center Rasid Mahalbasic, who had 23 points in the first game, set the tone by going hard to the basket early and often. He finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

While he used his size and aggression to rule the low post on offense, Mahalbasic also showed on one play in the first half his defense, and an ability to run the fast break.

After going to half-time with a 40-29 lead, EWE Baskets shut down the hosts in the third quarter, limiting them to just 9 points to stretch their advantage to 59-38.

They kept the pressure on over the last 10 minutes to improve to 5-3 in Group A while Enisey slumped to 2-6.

"Enisey gave a good fight the first 20 minutes," Mahalbasic said. "We had the last couple of weeks trouble and we put all this anger and negative energy on the court. We played as a team and deserved the win."

Ricky Paulding had a game-high 19 points for EWE Baskets.

Mladen Drijencic, the EWE Baskets coach, said: "I'm very impressed how my team played today, especially defensively. They did a great job.

"For 40 minutes, they didn't allow Enisey to get into their offensive rhythm. In the first half, we had a close game. Every time it got close, we had the right answer. In the second half, we dominated and I think we deserved this win."

EWE Baskets host a red-hot Dinamo Sassari, winners of three straight, next week while Enisey travel to southern Spain to take on UCAM Murcia.