CEZ Nymburk Prepares For Gran Canaria After Silencing Turk Telekom In OT (Eurocup 2010)

(Basketball life overseas eh? Ron Lewis & CEZ Nymburk in the Canary Islands:2/7/2010)

They say the mark of championship caliber team is how it responds to adversity. CEZ Basketball Nymburk of the Czech Republic opened up Top 16 Eurocup play (1/26/2010) with a home loss to Red Star Beograd. Week two (2/2/2010) brought the daunting, and do or die task of defeating Turkish club Turk Telekom before a hostile road crowd in Atatur Arena .CEZ would respond in big way behind fabulous Phil Ricci's 24 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, resulting in a thrilling 97-92 overtime victory. Nymburk led 68-61 after three quarters, but a late 4th quarter run by Telekom pushed the game into overtime.

Nymburk looked a little rattled at that point, but a 6-0 run to begin overtime quickly silenced the audience & demoralized Telekom at the same time. Ron Lewis had 12 points, 5 assists, & 2 boards. Lew must have gotten to the foul line like 5 or 6 times in that first half. His knack for drawing fouls is definitely paying dividends for Nymburk. Playmaker Arthur Lee added 13 points, add Mike Lenzly really stepped up with strong 2nd half & overtime play (12 points, 2 huge threes, 4 straight points in overtime)

This now brings us to today, February 9th 2010, week 3 of Top 16 play. CEZ Nymburk has been in the Canary Islands for a couple days now preparing for a super tough road matchup against Gran Canaria 2014 of the famed Spanish ACB league. Canaria is 9th place int he ACB league with a 10-11 record. Like Nymburk, they went 4-2 in their first Eurocup grouping, and are currently tied with CEZ with a 1-1 record in top 16 place. (sound confusing lol? Eurocup Standings here, Spanish league standings here, Czech league standings here)

Gran Canaria is coming off of a embarrassing Week 2 drubbing in Serbia at the hands of Red Star. This club should be locked in on Nymburk with a powerful frontcourt consisting of centers Will McDonald, Senegalese shot blocker Sitapha Savane, and former University of Illinois forward James Augustine. In the backcourt their main men are Marcus Norris & Jaycee Carroll. This will be another huge test for Lewis and Nymburk. The game will tip off around 3:30 pm U.S Eastern Standard time, check back here and our new Twitter page for live game updates and links to watch the game!

Nice game preview by Eurocup

Gran Canaria Preview