SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA LAGUNA (Basketball Champions League) - Mamadou Niang doesn't start for Iberostar Tenerife and his numbers in the boxscore never suggest he's been the most important player on any given night.

But make no mistake, on Tuesday night the 23-year-old was a difference maker for the defending champions as they broke open a close game against Neptunas Klaipeda midway through the second quarter and rolled to a 90-67 victory.

Niang brought energy on both ends of the floor and finished with highlight reel dunks and swats as the Canary Islanders won for the sixth game in a row.

With Fotis Katsikaris, a seasoned campaigner in Spain who has had successful stints at Valencia Basket, Bilbao and UCAM Murcia, having replaced Nenad Markovic at the helm, this may once again be Iberostar Tenerife's title to win or lose. Katsikaris, in his post-game remarks, was also quick to praise rookie center Mike Tobey's play in the second quarter. His defense, rebounding and overall intensity were crucial.

Tobey's intensity on both ends of the floor was big for Iberostar Tenerife

Tim Abromaitis, as he has done so many times in the past, punished the visitors by drilling 5 3-pointers and Hungary international Rosco Allen had his best game with the Spanish club, scoring 16 points and corralling 6 rebounds.

He was 2 of 4 from behind the arc, with his second 3-ball proving to be a dagger at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

"We're very happy for the victory, we're very happy with how we played," Katsikaris said. "As far as the plan that we had, it (Neptunas) was a very dangerous team on the fast break. It's a team that punishes every mistake.

"They run the floor great and they're very efficient. And the other thing was the offensive rebounds. We had some problems during the game and we also had some problems with one-on-one defense and they scored some easy baskets.

"But our defense got harder and we closed the rebounds. It's absolutely a great victory that we reduced the production of their points from 90 (per game) to 67."

The Lithuanians had clawed back a deficit that had been more than 20 points to just 11 at the end of the third quarter and then had an opportunity get it to single digits at the start of the final frame.

Jerry Johnson missed from the right corner, though, and Allen struck quickly at the other end for a 14-point advantage. There was no turning back after that basket.

"Today, Tenerife forced us to play team basketball," Neptunas coach Kazys Maksvytis said. "Today we weren't ready, especially offensively sharing the ball. Defensively, everything starts from the rebounds, they had 20 offensive, so that's why we lost the game, I think."

Iberostar Tenerife out-rebounded Neptunas, 47-33.

Mateusz Ponitka, Ferran Bassas and Nicolas Richotti all had terrific games for Iberostar Tenerife. If they play like this for the rest of the season, it's going to be tough for anyone to beat them.