Oradea stop Ironi Ness Ziona's winning run; Shepherd guides Kyiv to late success

MUNICH (Germany) - Ironi Ness Ziona were handed their first defeat of the FIBA Europe Cup season as CSM CSU Oradea prevailed on a dramatic night of action.

It was Kris Richard who starred after firing in 31 points to inspire an 86-80 success for the Romanian side's first win in the Second Round phase.

The visitors had 16 points apiece from Daequan Cook and Jeff Withey as they were unable to recover from a slow start, despite a strong third quarter having trailed by as many as 20 points.

"I am very happy with this victory against a a very good team and with our performance against a team with great players," commented Cristian Achim, CSM CSU Oradea's head coach.

"I am happy for Kris Richard and his performance, but I am also very happy and proud for the performance of all my players in this game. The victory is even bigger given the fact that Ironi Ness Ziona played with their full roster and they played a lot of minutes with their main players."

Kasey Shepherd came up clutch for BC Kyiv Basket with the game-winning fadeaway to claim a thrilling 80-78 triumph against Egis Kormend as his side move to 2-0.

The American finished with 17 points as well as 5 assists with team-mate Serhii Pavlov edging the scoring stakes with 18 personal, while Travis Taylor had 22 points in defeat.

There was also a narrow home victory for Tsmoki-Minsk as they edged out U-BT Cluj Napoca 78-76 behind seven players scoring at least 9 points. Vladimir Veremeenko came up with the decisive basket inside the final 90 seconds as the home side held on down the stretch.

Meanwhile, there was double home success in Turkey as Bahcesehir College got back on track with a comfortable 93-71 victory over ZZ Leiden, while Pinark Karsiyaka defeated Enisey Krasnoyarsk 85-74 for their second win.

Bahcesehir College racked up 59 points through the middle periods with Cam Clark leading the way on the night with 22 points and 7 rebounds, while Trae Golden dished out 9 assists.

Janis Berzins netted 22 points and Klavs Cavars added 19 points - on 9-of-10 shooting - along with 9 boards as Ventspils continued their domination by brushing aside Landstede Hammers Zwolle 111-74 to stay unbeaten.

medi Bayreuth produced a strong second half effort to overcome SL Benfica for a convincing 96-78 victory, while Bakken Bears took control of the group as they outscored Spirou Basket 16-3 in the final quarter to secure an 82-78 road win to prevent a Wednesday sweep for the home sides.

FIBA