Basketball Club Nizhny Novgorod left no chance to the Greek PAOK in the home game of Eurocup fifth tour. Since the very start our team took the initiative and did not let go till the very end, defeating the Greeks by 30 points. Hence Nizhny finishes the first round of Eurocup at the first place in its group F.
BC NN - PAOK: 87 - 53 (19 – 12, 18 – 18, 18 – 10, 32 – 13)
«NN»: Thompson (15 pts + 10 rebounds), Panin (14 ), Golovin (13), Khvostov (12), Brezec (10 + 5 rebounds), Antonov (9 + 5 rebounds), Babbit (4), Gubanov (3), Ivlev (3), Savelyev (2), Baburin (2), Paul (0)
PAOK: Tsairelis (13), Charalampidis (8 + 6 rebounds), Cooper (7 + 6 rebounds)
Zoran Lukic, head coach Nizhny Novgorod:
I'd like to congratulate my team with this victory. It was not easy for the Greeks, because they have recently been playing with Olympiakos in the state championship. At the game PAOK played in the zone, while we couldn't cope with our long shots. But as soon as we started to throw properly in the second half, everything went well and so we won.
Semen Antonov, BC NN captain:
I don't think that the final score really shows the differences between our teams. Although we did set such pace that the Greek players just couldn't manage.
We're really pleased of such big score advantage, because those points could be helpful for the further results in our group. Hope our fans appreciated the game and the way we sort of payed them back for their support.
Anastasios Markopoulos, head coach PAOK:
The key moment of the match was when the referee missed the travelling of BCNN player. Plus we got a technical foul. After that the opponents took the initiative to the full, while we have probably had our worst game this season.
Georgios Dedas, player PAOK:
We knew that Nizhny Novgorod is a very good team which plays really well on its court. Though we have managed to show resistance in the first half, later we grew too tired from the previous game. In the end several long shots from BCNN have absolutely left us no chance to succeed.
BC Nizhny Novgorod signed a one-year deal with Canadian bigman Sean Denison (211 cm, 111 kg, 32 y.o.). Last season he spent in Romanian CSM Oradea, participating in the national championship and Basketball Champions League. From 2011 till 2013 he played in Russian clubs Spartak-Primorye and Ataman.
Nizhny Novgorod terminated the contract with American forward Erik McCree who’d joined the team this august. The decision was made by mutual agreement. At the moment Nizhny is in search of a new player for the vacant place.
BC NN signed a two-year contract with American forward Erik McCree (23 y.o., 203 cm, 102 kg). From 2013 to 2017 he was playing for Louisiana Tech in NCAA. Last season he showed his best statistics averaging 17,7 points, 8,9 rebounds, 1,3 assists in 33 games.
BC NN signed a two-year deal with American point guard Sterling Gibbs (188cm, 84kg, 24 y.o). In his college years he played for Seton Hall Pirates and Connecticut Huskies in NCAA. In 2016-2017 spent his first season overseas as he joined Hungarian team Kormend. He helped the team to semifinals in Hungarian Cup and Hungarian League averaging 14,4 points, 2,1 rebounds, 3,3 assists in 27 games.
