2002-03EighthfinalsRound 1
February 04, 2003 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 GEW ENERGY DOME

A favorite playing on the road got its mettle tested but finally prevailed Tuesday as Pamesa Valencia's depth outdid RheinEnergie's homecourt advantage in Cologne, Germany by 72-76 in the first of their two-game series. With four players who would be starters elswhere pouring off the bench in the second quarter, Pamesa turned an eight-point deficit into a 10-point halftime lead on the strength of a huge 5-23 run over 7 minutes. Alessandro Abbio was the catalyst of that turnaround and finished by leading the winners with 22 points. Federico Kammerichs added 14 and Fabricio Oberto 10 for Pamesa. All of which was needed to hold back RheinEnergie, and especially its leader, Sasa Obradovic, on their home floor. Obradovic poured in 27 points for the German team, while Zoran Kukic added 14 and Clint Harrison 10. At the rematch next week in Valencia, RheinEnergie needs to win by more than 4 points to advance.

With a good atmopshere in the Energy Dome, Cologne started the game with more intensity than Pamesa, as a trio of three-pointers - a pair by Clint Harrison and another by Stephen Arigbabu - put the hosts haead 13-2. The reaction for Pamesa came courtesy of Federico Kammerichs, who scored 7 points as the Spanish League leaders scratched back to within 14-15. Obradovic stopped the run there with a triple, but Dejan Tomasevic hit a free throw to make it 17-16. In the final minute, however, Zoran Kukic sent in a layup and Obradovic hit another from downtown as time expired for a 22-16 RheinEnergie lead.

In the second quarter, Abbio, Jose Paraiso, Alejandro Montecchia and Bernard Hopkins rose from the bench for Pamesa, and gradually the game of the visitors changed in purpose and direction. The guests improved their defense by simply closing RheinEnergie's way to the basket after Dragan Tomic's basket had put the locals ahead 24-16. The points were precious for RheinEnergie thereafter. Meanwhile, Paraiso drained a three and Abbio caught fire for Pamesa with 5 consecutive points to tie the game, 24-24. Harrison gave his team a rescue with a triple of his own. Put now Hopkins got loose inside and within a couple minutes, Montecchia was popping from downtown for a Pamesa lead at 29-31. RheinEnergie seems momentarily stunned as it ceded the last 8 points of the quarter, too. It amounted to a 5-23 run over the 7 minutes before the break, by which time Pamesa was ahead by 10 points, 29-39.

After resumption, this trend became more self-evident. Abbio, Montecchia and Paraiso punished Cologne again from the 6.25 line and took the guests towards their maximum lead, 33-50 in minute 25. But not all things went perfectly for the guests, as foul trouble was a constant threat and the zone defenses of RheinEnergie stalled Pamesa's offense. That, in turn, eased the reaction of RheinEnergie, which would finish the quarter with a 20-7 run led by Obradovic and Vladimir Bogojevic that left the scoreboard at 53-57 after 3 quarters. Then, in the fourth quarter, the German hosts scored the first basket to pull within 2 points and finally tied the game some minutes later. Pamesa wasjust unable to stop Obradovic, but who should return at the end but Abbio, seconded by Kammerichs and Oberto, to steer Pamesa to victory in the last minutes and send them home to their fortress in Valencia with no bigger necessity than to avoid losing by 4 or more points.

Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Eurocupbasketball.com
No results found.
Referees: BETANCOR, MIGUELO; ARTEAGA, JUAN CARLOS; UDRICA, MARIUS
Attendance: 2400
By Quarter1234
RheinEnergie Cologne2272419
Pamesa Valencia16231819
End of Quarter1234
RheinEnergie Cologne22295372
Pamesa Valencia16395776
RheinEnergie Cologne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 STRASSER, JOHANNES DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 HAMMINK, GERRIT 15:00 2 0/1 0/2 2/2   4 4 1 1 1     5 2 1
6 OBRADOVIC, SASA 25:00 27 5/7 3/5 8/8       1 4 3     3 7 29
7 BOGOJEVIC, VLADIMIR 36:00 8 0/1 2/6 2/2 1 1 2 6 1 4     2 2 8
8 HARRISON, CLINT 33:00 10 0/1 3/5 1/2 1 1 2 3 1 1     2 2 11
9 TERDENGE, GERRIT 3:00                         1   -1
10 TOMIC, DRAZAN 14:00 2 1/1 0/1     1 1   1       2 2 3
11 KUKIC, ZORAN 33:00 14 7/13 0/1   2 5 7     4     3 3 10
12 ARIGBABU, STEPHEN 26:00 6 1/3 1/3 1/2 2 2 4 1 2 5     3 3 3
13 MEHRENS, CHRISTIAN 3:00   0/2 0/1   1 1 2   1       2   -2
14 LINKE, GREGOR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 WILLOUGHBY, MARVIN 12:00 3 1/1   1/2 2   2   1         2 7
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 72 15/30 9/24 15/18 9 17 26 12 12 18 0 0 23 23 71
        50% 37.5% 83.3%
Head coach: BAECK, STEPHAN
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Pamesa Valencia
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 HOPKINS, BERNARD 17:00 4 2/4   0/2 1 1 2 1   1 1   3 2 2
6 MONTECCHIA, ALEJANDRO 21:00 9 0/3 3/5   1 2 3 3 1       4   7
7 ABBIO, ALESSANDRO 30:00 22 3/4 4/7 4/4   1 1 2 2 1 1   1 3 25
9 ROBLES, PEDRO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 KAMMERICHS, FEDERICO 21:00 14 4/7 1/1 3/6 6 5 11     2     3 4 18
11 RODILLA, JOSE IGNACIO 22:00 4 1/3   2/4   1 1 2   2     1 5 5
12 PARAISO, JOSE ANTONIO 15:00 8   2/2 2/2   3 3 1   5     2 1 6
14 OBERTO, FABRICIO 33:00 10 5/8   0/1 4   4 2 2 2     4 1 9
15 LUENGO, VICTOR 10:00 1 0/1 0/1 1/2         2 1     1 1 -1
18 TOMASEVIC, DEJAN 31:00 4 1/6 0/1 2/5 2 4 6 4 2 4     2 3 4
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 76 16/36 10/17 14/26 15 19 34 15 9 18 2 0 21 20 78
        44.4% 58.8% 53.8%
Head coach: OLMOS, FRANCISCO
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

BAECK, STEPHAN
RheinEnergie Cologne
"We wanted to induce respect. In some phases, we played very good and in some parts of the game we really fought. It is a shame that it didn't work at the end and we couldn't prevail. But nevertheless we are glad about our presentation. We kept Tomasevic and Omberto out of the game."
OLMOS, FRANCISCO
Pamesa Valencia
"Our free throws were bad, and we started bad. But we are glad to be the winners in the end. We should have been more constant, and we should have got a competitive edge with more points. We have to be very concentrated for the game in Valencia."

Players

OBRADOVIC, SASA
RheinEnergie Cologne
"We played very good as a team and we had the chance to win. It is sad, that it didn't work in the end. We will try it in Valencia again."
HOPKINS, BERNARD
Pamesa Valencia
"We knew that Cologne is a good team. We knew that we had to play at 100%. But we couldn't play at that level for the whole game and that assures us that we have to play very concentrated in Valencia."
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