Valencia gets past Oldenburg, remains unbeaten

Valencia Basket hit 14 triples on 23 attempts and cruised to its 12 consecutive Eurocup victory, beating EWE Baskets Oldenburg on the road 89-108 on Wednesday night. Valencia improved to 2-0 in sole possession of the first place in Group I, while Oldenburg dropped to 1-1 record. Valencia used a 0-12 second quarter run to take the lead for good. It was 46-54 at the halftime, but Valencia wasted little time to pull away after the break with Romain Sato and Bojan Dubljevic hitting three-pointers to help make it 62-80, and the visitors never looked back. Antoine Diot paced six double-digit scorers with 25 points and also had 8 assists. Dubljevic scored 15, Sato and Luke Sikme had 12 apiece, while Vladimir Lucic and Justin Hamilton each scored 11 in victory. Brian Qvale had 16 points for Oldenburg, Klemen Prepelic scored 13, and Vaughn Duggins netted 11 in defeat.

Hamilton strung together 7 points to give Valencia an early 8-16 lead, but Qvale had a put-back, Duggins and Prepelic each hit a triple, and Nemanja Aleksandrov had a three-point play that put Oldenburg in front 19-18. Duggins hit another triple for the hosts, but three-pointers from Fernando San Emeterio and Dubljevic helped tied it at 26-26 after 10 minutes. Philipp Schwethelm and Chris Kramer buried three-pointers for the hosts early in the second quarter that gave Oldenburg 34-29, and Schwethelm’s three helped the hosts to 41-34. However, Dubljevic hit from long range to spark a 0-12 run during which Sikma scored 7 points, including a three-pointer of his own, and Valencia was in control once again. Oldenburg kept within reach from the free throw line in the final minutes of the second quarter, but a three-pointer play and a triple from Diot in the last 40 seconds put Valencia up 46-54 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Prepelic scored twice to keep Oldenburg within range, but Diot hit a three-pointer to help push the margin into double figures 52-63. Rickey Paulding hit a triple for the hosts, but Rafa Martinez scored 4 points, Sato and Dubljevic each hit a three-pointer, and Valencia pulled away to 62-80 in the final minute of the third quarter. Duggins hit a three for Oldenburg, and Diot for Valencia, making it 67-85 after 30 minutes, and Valencia kept control and big margin in the fourth. Threes from John Shurna and Lucic made it 71-91, before Aleksandrov scored twice for the hosts. But, game was out of hand already. Hamilton scored to make it 80-100, and teams traded baskets in the closing minutes as Valencia picked up its 12th straight win.