EWE Baskets Oldenburg sweeps PAOK and climbs atop Group I

EWE Baskets Oldenburg completed sweep of PAOK Thessaloniki with an 83-71 victory to climb atop the Group I standings with a 3-1 record. PAOK fell to 1-3 and last place in the group standings. PAOK was in the game for the first quarter and a half and led by 2 on an Apollon Tsochlas triple, but the hosts scored the last 8 points of the half to lead 48-39. Chris Kramer scored 8 in a 13-0 third-quarter run that took the difference into the 20s and the lead eventually peaked at 27 in the fourth quarter before Oldenburg eased up down the stretch. Kramer finished with 23 points and 5 assists, while Rickey Paulding, Nemanaja Aleksandrov and Vaughn Duggins scored 12 points each. Nikola Markovic paced PAOK with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Uros Duvnjak also scored 11 and Will Hatcher and Kostas Vasileiadis netted 10 apiece in defeat.

Paulding started the scoring for the home team with a pair of three-pointers sandwiched around a Sofoklis Schortsanitis free throw. Hatcher reeled off 5 straight points before Vasileiadis put PAOK ahead 6-8. Hatcher kept the visitors in front with 4 more points. Kramer and Duggins tied it and after Duvnjak and Aleksandrov traded threes, the first quarter ended at 24-24. Aleksandrov started the second quarter with a triple and Duggins’s steal led to a Kramer layup. Tsochlas scored 5 in a row to close the gap and Schortsanitis’s put-back gave PAOK a 32-33 edge. Tsochlas added a triple to put the visitors ahead by 2, but Philipp Schwethelm and Paulding reacted with back-to-back threes. After Vasileiadis connected from downtown to draw PAOK within 40-39, Paulding drained his fourth three, then stole the ball and set up Kramer for a layup before Jan Wimberg’s triple made it 48-39 at the break.

Despite a pair of Schortsanitis baskets early in the second half, Kramer heated up and extended the Oldenburg advantage. Kramer scored 8 in a 13-0 run that made it 66-43. Kostas Kakaroudis hit a three to keep PAOK alive, but a three by Schwethelm gave the home team a 74-49 advantage through three quarters. Oldenburg’s lead peaked at 27 points (76-49) after a Kramer free throw early in the fourth quarter. Markovic stood out for PAOK, but his best efforts were not enough to get the visitors back in the game. Duvnjak brought the deficit into the teens and Michail Liapis chiseled it down to 12, however the outcome was never in doubt as Oldenburg chalked up an important win.