There was some drama, but the home teams managed to prevail by winning both their games and series on Wednesday, victories which sent Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas and Khimki Moscow Region to the Eurocup Finals! After valiant efforts, Unics Kazan and Banvit Bandirma return home with their heads held high following great Eurocup seasons.

Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas vs. Unics Kazan

There will be a first-time Eurocup finalist this season after Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas edged Unics Kazan 78-76 in front of over 8,000 fans at Gran Canaria Arena to sweep their two-game series. Gran Canaria improved its Eurocup record to 21-1, became the first team to get over 20 wins in the competition and remained undefeated at home after 11 games. Levon Kendall paced the winners with 17 points. Eulis Baez and Kyle Kuric each scored 12, while Albert Oliver had 11 for Gran Canaria. Baez added 10 rebounds for a double-double. James White led Unics with 20 points. The game was close throughout, but Gran Canaria was able to remain calm thanks to a 13-point advantage it had from Game 1 of the series in Russia. A late Curtus Jerells three-pointer tied the score, but Tomas Bellas’s free throws gave Gran Canaria the victory in addition to the series win.

Khimki Moscow Region vs. Banvit Bandirma

It needed to sweat it out in the end, but Khimki Moscow Region’s a 93-89 victory over Banvit Bandirma clinch it a berth in the 2015 Eurocup Finals. Tyrese Rice scored 28 points, including a pair of free throws with 10.2 seconds to go, to lead Khimki to the victory, which coupled with an 83-82 Banvit triumph in Game 1 gave Khimki a 3-point aggregate win in their two-game total-points series. Khimki was in control with a 12-point advantage with less than a minute to go before Sammy Mejia helped spark a late 0-8 Banvit run, which fell just short. Khimki will play the finals for the third time and first since it won the competition in 2012. Paul Davis added 16 points, Sergey Monia scored 14 on 4-of-6 three-point shooting plus 5 assists and James Augustine posted 8 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks for the winners. Mejia made 5 of 6 threes for 25 points to lead Banvit.

By Eurocupbasketball.