The eight teams left in the 2014-15 Eurocup season play the first half of their two-game series starting this week as the Eurocup Quarterfinals get underway. Two of those quarterfinals series pair former Eurocup champions, and the two other series feature three that have never before made it this far in the competition. The quarterfinals opened on Tuesday with Khimki Moscow Region edging reigning champion Valencia Basket. Three more games tip off on Wednesday.

Valencia Basket – Khimki Moscow Region

In a clash of two Eurocup powerhouses, Tyrese Rice scored 27 points and dished 5 assists as Khimki Moscow Region struck a 75-76 road win over champion Valencia Basket on Tuesday in Game 1 of their two-game total-points series. The visitors outscored Valencia 32-48 in the middle two quarters. Back-to-back threes by Petteri Koponen and Rice at the end of the third quarter made it 52-65. However Valencia rallied late behind Luke Harangody and Vladimir Lucic, closed the gap and restored Valencia’s chances to win the series with a narrow victory next week in Russia. Paul Davis and Koponen each scored 12 and Egor Vyaltsev tallied 7 points and 7 assists for Khimki, which won its eighth straight Eurocup game. Sam Van Rossom scored 15 points and Harangody 12 for Valencia, which was without point guard Nemanja Nedovic due to injury.

Paris Levallois – Banvit Bandirma

Mike Green was the hero in leading Paris Levallois past Banvit Bandirma 67-65 in Game 1. Green set a quarterfinals record with 11 assists before banking in his own missed shot in the final second of the game to give Paris the win. Green, who finished with 7 points, tied Marko Popovic for the most assists in a single game this late in the season. Blake Schilb led the Paris attack with 12 points and Sharrod Ford had 10 points and 8 rebounds. Vladimir Dragicevic led Banvit with 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Unics Kazan – Lokomotiv Kuban

Injury-plagued Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar bested Unics Kazan 78-87 on the road. Lokomotiv extended its Eurocup-record winning streak to 20 games despite being without its starting frontcourt duo of Derrick Brown and Anthony Randolph. Malcolm Delaney led the winners with 23 points and Krunoslav Simon added 18 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Keith Langford led Unics with 19 points before leaving the game with an injury. Unics led 50-48 in the third quarter, but Delaney took over in a 1-12 run that gave Lokomotiv a double-digit lead, 51-62 and Hendrix shined early in the fourth quarter as Lokomotiv boosted its margin to 52-67 and kept a good lead until the final buzzer.

Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas – Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir

Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas will play the Eurocup Quarterfinals for the second time in its history when it hosts Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir and the Eighthfinals Game 2 MVP Jon Diebler in Game 1’s last tip-off on Wednesday. Both teams are in the habit of winning. Gran Canaria has won 17 of 18 games this season, and five in a row, while Karsiyaka is unbeaten in its last eight games, a run that consists of seven wins and a tie. Expect to see some offensive fireworks, especially from long range, as these are the two most accurate three-point shooting teams in the competition. Gran Canaria makes a Eurocup-best 43.8% from downtown for the season, while Karsiyaka is second at 41.7%. The visitors, who are newcomers to the quarterfinals stage, have been red-hot during their unbeaten streak, hitting 47.1% from three-point range during the Last 32, while Bobby Dixon and Jon Dielber hit 17 triples between them in the team’s eighthfinals series. Karsiyaka is fifth in scoring this season with 83.1 points on average, but Gran Canaria is better, with 84.3, and ranks second among all Eurocup teams with an average performance index rating of 101.9. Only one team has scored more points than Gran Canaria (769) at home this season. On the other hand, only one team has more steals than Karsiyaka (150) this entire season.

Source: Eurocup