STRASBOURG (France) - Play-In series came at the worst possible moment for SIG Strasbourg. However, even without coach Lassi Tuovi and two important players John Roberson and Yannis Morin, they eased away to a win over PAOK mateco, taking a 1-0 lead after a 105-78 triumph in France.

Coach Tuovi and both players tested positive, so Frank Kuhn and Romain Leroy took over the coaching duties, while the rotation was cut to eight players plus two youngsters in Pedro Bengui and Hugo Minnig.

Turning point: Strasbourg opened up the game with 30 points in the first half and had a 25-point lead before PAOK mateco finally woke up in the third quarter with three straight Vasileios Toliopoulos three-pointers cutting the gap to ten points at 63-53.

But there would be no drama, as captain DeAndre Lansdowne knocked down a pair of three-pointers, Jarell Eddie was fouled on a three-pointer, and Ike Udanoh did his part with a strong dunk. Instead of it being a close game, SIG's lead was 77-59 with ten minutes to play, and there was no magical comeback from the black-and-white in the fourth.

 
Game heroes: Jarell Eddie had 16 of his 26 points in the first half, providing a much needed spark from the outside in John Roberson's absence. Eddie went 7-of-9 from the field, got 5 rebounds to his name, and Strasbourg were +43 in his 25 minutes on the court.

Meanwhile, with no Yannis Morin around, it was Ike Udanoh who covered the hole on the inside, getting his BCL career-high 17 points.

Honorable mention goes to Jaromir Bohacik, who had 20 points, and a +30 in the +/- department.

Stats don't lie: Everything went Strasbourg's way, but without Roberson it was all about keeping it under control offensively. They dished out 25 assists and turned it over just five times, compared to 17 PAOK turnovers, which led to a 27-11 edge in points from turnovers.

Bottom line: PAOK mateco got 18 points and 13 rebounds from Marvin Jones, and had three other players in double digits, but it was their defense that was sub par. They will need to step it up because now they have to win back-to-back games to reach Round of 16 Group L, where Falco Szombathely and Rytas Vilnius await.

They said:

"We didn't do anything right. We need to improve, for sure, and we need to do it fast if we want to have chances to qualify." - Vasileios Toliopoulos, PAOK mateco

"I don't have to say a lot, the score speaks. We didn't play well at all, our performance was below average, and Strasbourg won fairly in the game." - PAOK mateco head coach Aris Lykogiannis

"Honestly, it what we always preach, we play as a team. Today, we were more than a team. Everybody picked up a little bit for the guys that were missing, and the communication was crazy today. 25 assists to five turnovers is crazy. It's a crazy statistic to have. But it's a testament to all the guys we got, everybody bought in and everybody cares for one another, everybody cares about winning. Whatever you have to do to win, that's what you're gonna do. That's what we did today." - Ike Udanoh, SIG Strasbourg

"We are super happy and proud to have this win. It was a specific context because Lassi (Tuovi) couldn't coach the game. The performance tonight is just a result of the hard work that we have every day with Lassi over the last year and a half. This is completely his victory tonight, it was just a following of what we are doing for months, so it was, in a way, easy. I was not alone to coach, I was with Romain Leroy, so it was co-coaching." - SIG Strasbourg assistant coach Frank Kuhn