Bundesliga basketball club Niners Chemnitz has qualified early for the last 16 of the Eurocup. Coach Rodrigo Pastore's team, which was short of substitutes, defeated Italian first-division side Dolomiti Energia Trento 81:67 (39:36) in front of its home crowd. Nike Sibande stood out for the Niners with 25 points in their ninth win in 17 games.
The club from Chemnitz, who had announced the departure of point guard Kaza Kajami-Keane to Bundesliga rivals Löwen Braunschweig a few hours before the game, got off to the better start with a 7:2 lead, but then found it increasingly difficult to score.
As a result, defense initially dominated on both sides, before substitute Jordan Schakel put the home side 24:17 (11th minute) in front with two successive threes. The Italians then made better use of their size advantage and were able to reduce the deficit by the break.
After the break, the visitors' build-up player DJ Steward turned on the heat, but Chemnitz held out as a collective and stepped up the pressure in defense considerably in the final quarter. They produced a 9:0 run to pull 76:65 ahead in the 37th minute.
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