The 2015-16 Eurocup reached the midway point of the regular season after a fantastic Round 5 of games. Among the 18 contests there were seven road winners and several games decided late in the fourth quarter. The eighth triple-double in competition history was recorded by Banvit Bandirma’s Courtney Fortson and that was just one of several standout individual efforts.
GROUP A
Three teams share the group lead with 3-2 records and the other three teams are only a game behind! In a true thriller that went down to the final second on Wednesday, Vaughn Duggins hit a game-winning shot to lift visiting EWE Basket Oldenburg over Union Olimpija Ljubljana 81-82. Both teams have 2-3 records after this drama in the Slovenian capital. Olimpija put together a 17-2 run to rally from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit and take the lead, but Duggins was the hero for Oldenburg with a game-winner 9 seconds before the buzzer. Brian Qvale paced the visitors in victory with 21 points, while Duggins finished with 19. Dominion Bilbao Basket topped Dolomiti Energia Trento 75-80 to remain undefeated on the road this season. Both teams hold 3-2 records after Bilbao led by as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter, but Trento went on a 19-2 run to grab a slim lead. However, Alex Mumbru and Clevin Hannah secured the victory for the visitors. Hannah led Bilbao with 22 points. Terrance Campbell and Hugo Invernizzi knocked down 5 three-pointers apiece on Tuesday to lead JSF Nanterre to a 101-78 rout of Telekom Baskets Bonn. Campbell totaled 21 points and 6 assists and Invernizzi scored 18 in a victory that improved Nanterre to 3-2. The game was close for most of the first half, but Nanterre pulled away with an 11-0 run to start the second half and never looked back.
GROUP B
In an overtime thriller, MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg edged Le Mans Sarthe Basket 75-81 on Tuesday. After Chris Lofton’s three on the buzzer forced overtime for Le Mans, the visitors took charge with a 0-7 run to start the extra session and held on the rest of the way. Shawn Huff led the Ludwigsburg attack with 21 points, while Jon Brockman dominated inside with 12 points and 17 rebounds. His 9 offensive rebounds were 2 off the competition record. Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas pulled away late to beat Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia 76-67. Alen Omic posted 17 points and 10 rebounds to pace Granca, which bounced back nicely from previous week’s loss. The victory was the team’s 13th straight regular season home win. On Wednesday, ALBA Berlin scored a hard-fought 68-72 road win over winless Enel Basket Brindisi. It was the fourth consecutive win for ALBA. Dragan Milosavljevic scored 18 points to pace the visitors, who grabbed control of the game with a strong fourth quarter, but could not pull away. Brindisi took 63-62 lead late in the fourth quarter, but ALBA’s defense did not allow a field goal for almost five minutes at the very end, helping the team prevail.
GROUP C
Valencia Basket comfortably beat Proximus Spirou Charleroi 49-65 to remain undefeated. Playing without Bojan Dubljevic, Valencia held the hosts below 30% shooting from the field. Justin Hamilton led the visitors in victory with 17 points and 6 rebounds, while Sam Van Tossom netted 14. CAI Zaragoza edged Umana Reyer Venice 77-79, registering what could be a key road win. CAI dominated on the glass, outrebounding the hosts 24-47, including 21 offensive rebounds. But still, the game went right down to the wire. Joan Sastre and Drake Diener hit key three-pointers for the visitors in the final minutes, and Mike Green missed a chance to send the game into overtime from the free throw line in the final second. Stevan Jelovac amassed 17 points plus 11 rebounds in victory. Diener netted 15 on 5-of-7 shooting from long range, while Sastre had 14 points on 4 of 6 from long range. ratiopharm Ulm downed SLUC Nancy 90-73 using an 18-0 fourth quarter run to break the game open. Ulm snapped its two-game losing streak with Da’Sean Butler and DeAndre Kane leading the way with18 points apiece.
GROUP D
Courtney Fortson recorded the sixth triple-double in Eurocup history and Gasper Vidmar starred with an impressive double-double for Banvit Bandirma, which defeated Aris Thessaloniki 96-84 on Wednesday. A 10-2 run early in the fourth quarter gave a double-digit margin to the home team, 75-65, and they never looked back despite the visitors fighting till the end. Dominique Johnson scored 13 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter for Banvit, while Vidmar amassed 24 points and 12 rebounds – 7 of them offensive, and Fortson tallied 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Unics Kazan claimed a 78-64 victory over Trabzonspor Medical Park. At the end three quarters and a half balanced quarters, Unics Kazan used a crucial 9-0 run fueled by Kostas Kaimakoglou, Marko Banic and Keith Langford to get a 67-57 advantage and never looked back. Keith Langford led the winners by scoring 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. Steaua CSM EximBank Bucharest edged Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 81-75 in the Romanian capital. Marko Marinovic led the winners with 18 points. The hosts led by 14 at halftime, but Buducnost came back in the second half. It was tied 63-63 in the fourth quarter when Aleksandar Rasic and Marinovic stepped up big in crunch time to help Steaua seal the outcome, 74-66, in the next-to-last minute.
GROUP E
Undefeated Zenit St. Petersburg cruised past Besiktas Sompo Japan Istanbul 82-58 on Wednesday. The hosts outscored Besiktas 48-17 in the middle two quarters. Janis Timma collected 20 points and 7 assists and Andrey Koshcheev posted 19 points and 8 rebounds to lead Zenit, whose 30 assists were twice as many as the visitors had. Kostas Vasileiadis made 13 free throws without a miss en route to 26 points and 8 rebounds to help PAOK Thessaloniki to an important 81-76 victory over Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius. William Hatcher added 17 points and 5 assists and Milenko Tepic scored 10 for the winners, who made 11 of 20 three-point shots (55%). Threes played a key role as four different players connected from deep in a 12-2 fourth-quarter run that rescued PAOK from a 6-point deficit. Szolnoki Olaj edged Avtodor Saratov 82-79 at home. David Vojvoda led the winners with 22 points and hit the go-ahead triple with a minute left. Szolnoki led by 12 in the fourth quarter when a rain of three-pointers and a couple of free throws by Jeremy Chappell rallied Avtodor to tie it at 78-78. Vojvoda nailed a key three-pointer and Strahinja Milosevic added free throws to allow the Szolnoki fans to celebrate a well-deserved win.
GROUP F
In a high-profile match on Tuesday, Erick McCollum rallied Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul to beat Nizhny Novgorod 87-85 and remain undefeated. McCollum scored 15 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to bring the hosts back from a 12-point deficit. When McCollum came up short on his final shot, Stephane Lasme came to the rescue with the go-ahead put-back that won the game. Lasme finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks to help Galatasaray reach the midway point of the regular season at 5-0. AEK Athens downed Neptunas Klaipeda 80-86 in Lithuania for its third straight victory. Loukas Mavrokefalidis led the winners with 25 points. The game was close for three quarter before Dusan Sakota hit back-to-back triples in a 0-12 run that gave AEK the lead for good, 61-70. Neptunas got within 72-76 but Mavrokefalidis stepped up in crunch time to seal the outcome. With two starters missing, E.J. Rowland stepped up with a monster game as Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem edged Krasny Oktyabr Volgograd 92-90 in the Israeli capital. Rowland starred with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists for the winners, who staved off overtime when Oktyabr forward JaJuan Johnson missed a dunk attempt at the buzzer. It capped an exciting finish that saw six lead changes and four ties in the final six minutes of action.
Source: Eurocup Basketball
