Last 32 Round 5 had no shortage of drama with four overtime games! Seven more teams booked eighthfinals tickets Wednesday, including Cedevita Zagreb, Valencia Basket and Virtus Rome, which all claimed road wins. PGE Turow Zgorzelec, Herbalife Gran Canaria and Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir won and clinched first place in their respective groups, as did Lokomotiv Kuban, which set a competition record for consecutive victories. Khimki Moscow Region and Brose Baskets Bamberg advanced, too.
Group G
Louis Campbell hit 6 three-pointers as Strasbourg scored a resounding 60-82 road win at Unics Kazan on Wednesday. The outcome tied the two teams atop the group with 3-2 records, but Strasbourg holds a tiebreak advantage because of the sweep over Unics. The visitors used 0-12 run to start the second quarter and take the lead for good, then broke the game open with 0-15 run early in the fourth. Campbell netted 22 points, and Antoine Diot had 16 in victory. CEZ Basketball Nymburk overpowered Zenit St Petersburg 63-84 to keep its eighthfinals chances alive with a second consecutive victory. The Czech champs led from start to finish. The visitors built a double-digit lead with a strong finish to the first quarter, and then broke the game open with a 0-9 third quarter run that gave Nymburk a 44-67 lead. Christian Burns paced the winners with 16 points, and Tre Simmons netted 14 in victory.
Group H
Herbalife Gran Canaria downed Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari 90-74 at home to lock up first place in the group. Gran Canaria improved to 4-1 – and to 14-1 in the entire Euroleague season – and clinched first place due to its tie-break advantage against Banvit Bandirma. Sassari dropped to 2-3 and will qualify if it beats Banvit at home next week. Kyle Kuric led the winners with 21 points. Eulis Baez, Kuric and Walter Tavares combined for all points in a 13-0 third-quarter run that broke the game open at 54-41 and paved the way to victory. Banvit Bandirma beat Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 87-74 to eliminate the visitors. Banvit took its first lead with a 10-0 run late in the second quarter, which helped it to 50-42 halftime advantage. The hosts extended the lead into double figures in the third quarter, and cruised to victory as Chuck Davis and Vladimir Veremeenko each scored 14 points.
Group I
After two overtime games, two overtime road winners emerged as the eighthfinalists from Group I on Wednesday. After rallying from a double-digit fourth quarter deficit, Virtus Rome forced overtime and edged Krasny Oktyabr Volgograd 86-88. Rome improved to 3-2 record and advanced after Luka Babic scored an overtime game-winner and lifted Cedevita Zagreb over CAI Zaragoza 84-85. The win improved Cedevita to 4-1 and the first place. Oktyabr led by 11 points in the fourth quarter, but Rome came back and forced overtime on a basket-plus-free throw from Bobby Jones. In the extra session, Rome never trailed and Rok Stipcevic hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 16 seconds to go, before sealing the deal from the foul line. Stipcevic finished as Rome’s top scorer with 19 points, and Jones had 18 points and 8 rebounds in victory, while Lamont Hamilton netted 24 for the hosts. In Zaragoza, Cedevita used a 0-17 run to open a 44-61 lead, but CAI opened the fourth quarter with 17-0 to go ahead 69-64. However, Marko Arapovic had a put-back dunk late in the regulation to tie it at 77-77 and send the game into overtime, where Babic made a game-winner for a thrilling victory. Fran Pilepic had 19 points to pace Cedevita, while big man Miro Bilan collected 18 points with 8 rebounds.
Group J
Khimki Moscow Region cruised past FoxTown Cantu 75-62, and became the first team from the group to secure its place in the eighthfinals. Dating back to the regular season opener last year, it was the 16th consecutive home win for Khimki, which took control of the game early on and built a double-digit lead in the second quarter before three consecutive triples in the third sparked a 21-1 run to put the visitors away. Paul Davis scored 14 points, and Tyrese Rice had 13 with 8 assists to pace the winners. Limoges CSP registered a hard-fought 68-79 road win against PAOK Thessaloniki to improve to 3-2 and grab control of its own destiny before the final Last 32 round. The visitors finished the game on a 3-13 tear to ice it. Leo Westermann paced them with 21 points on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range, while Adrien Moerman amassed 11 points plus 13 rebounds in victory. PAOK was eliminated with the loss.
Group K
Two German teams from Group K secured their places among the eighthfinalists. In Tuesday’s only game, FC Bayern Munich defeated JDA Dijon 74-84 and became the first team to win its Last 32 group. Dusko Savanovic starred for Bayern with 29 points on 4-of-6 three-point shooting plus 7 rebounds. Bayern led 41-45 at halftime before John Bryant scored half the points in a 0-12 third-quarter charge that essentially put the game away and improve the team to 5-0 in the Last 32 to win Group K. Second place was decided on Wednesday when Brose Baskets Bamberg outlasted Union Olimpija Ljubljana 91-90 after overtime in a thriller. The visitors had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but with the score 82-81, Olimpija’s guard Sasu Salin hit only 1 of 3 free throws with 2 seconds to go, sending the game into overtime. The visitors held the lead from the start of extra session, but a layup in traffic from Elias Harris with 2 seconds to go won it for the hosts. The win improved Bamberg to 3-2, and sent it into eighthfinals, while eliminating both Olimpija and Dijon. Trevor Mbakwe led the way with 21 points and 9 rebounds and Ryan Thompson scored 16 in victory.
Group L
Using another fantastic offensive display, PGE Turow Zgorzelec secured a 104-93 victory over Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius to clinch first place. It was the fourth consecutive win for Turow. The hosts hit 13 triples and finished the third quarter with a 21-4 spurt that gave them an 80-58 lead, breaking the game wide open. Damian Kulig led Turow with 27 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals, while Mardy Collins had 21 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assist and 4 steals. Baloncesto Seville downed Telenet Ostend 72-84 on the road to collect a prestigious win, but was eliminated due to a tie-break disadvantage with Rytas and Ostend, which face each other next week. Seville pulled away with a massive 5-32 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters, as Derrick Byars led the winners with 20 points and Willy Hernangomez added 14.
Group M
In an all-Turkish showdown, Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir locked up first place in Group M by downing Besiktas Integral Forex Istanbul 73-64 at home. Karsiyaka improved to 5-0 in Group M and has already advanced to the next phase, the eighthfinals, with home-court advantage. D.J. Strawberry paced the winners with 17 points and Bobby Dixon added 14 for Karsiyaka, which pulled away with 11-4 spurt to start the fourth quarter and never relinquished the lead. Besiktas dropped to 2-3, and now faces a do-or-die showdown next week with Paris Levallois. Paris defeated and eliminated Neptunas Klaipeda 88-79. Like Karsiyaka, Paris took the lead for good with a run at the start of the fourth quarter and never relinquished its advantage. Maleye Ndoye hit 5 of 6 triples on his way to 23 points. Sharrod Ford collected 20 points and 9 rebounds, while Mike Green scored 12 points and dished 15 assists for Paris.
Group N
History was made when Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar beat CSU Asesoft Ploiesti 92-79 on Wednesday. Lokomotiv not only continued its perfect season and clinched the first place in Group N, but also registered a record 16th consecutive Eurocup victory, a string of wins that started in the 2013 Eurocup title game. Lokomotiv is 5-0 in the Last 32 after pulling away from Asesoft in the fourth quarter, using three consecutive triples from Krunoslav Simon to open up a 15-point margin and never looking back. Simon scored 26 points, Nikita Kurbanov added 20, and Derrick Brown tallied 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in victory. Lokomotic will play Brose Baskets Bamberg in the eighthfinals. Reigning champion Valencia Basket held off SLUC Nancy in a thriller on the road 73-75 to advance. Valencia will finish the Last 32 in the second place and face FC Bayern Munich in the eighthfinals. As the game was going down to the wire, Romain Sato scored a key pair of second-chance baskets to give Valencia the lead for good in the nest-to-last minute, before Valencia survived a couple late Nancy possessions to win or send the game into overtime. Kresimir Loncar scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half to lead Valencia and Bojan Dubljevic added 15.
Source: Eurocup.
