Last 32 Round 4 featured five teams with the opportunity to book tickets to the Eurocup Eighthfinals, but only tree were able to do so. Road wins for Strasbourg and Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas solved Group G, where those teams will still play for first place. Unics Kazan advanced from Group M. Narrow losses for FC Bayern Munich and Zenit St. Petersburg kept those teams from getting to the next stage, at least for now.
Group G
Dominique Johnson, Adrien Moerman and Courtney Fortson tied club records in three-pointers made, rebounds and assists, respectively, as Banvit Bandirma routed ratiopharm Ulm 92-72 on Wednesday. Johnson made 6-of-8 three-pointers and finished with 20 points, Moerman posted 19 points on near-perfect shooting in addition to 19 rebounds and Fortson tallied 10 points and 11 assists to lead Banvit, which took control early to lead 22-5 and never looked back with the lead peaking at 29. Dominion Bilbao Basket edged FC Bayern Munch 88-90 to deny the home team a ticket to the eighthfinals – at least for now. Dominion BB improved to 2-2, but was unable to claim a potential tiebreak advantage over Bayern, which also won by 2 when they met last week in Bilbao. Bayern is tied with Banvit Bandirma atop the group at 3-1. The hosts rallied from 13 down in the fourth quarter to tie it in the final minute, but Alex Mumbru scored the go ahead basket with 30.6 seconds left and after Bayern missed its next 2 shots, Dairis Bertans iced the win from the line. Bertans finished with 24 points on 4-of-4 three-point shooting and Mumbru scored 22 to lead the winners.
Group H
The only group with two teams already in the eighthfinals is this one. Undefeated Strasbourg defeated Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem 69-79 to advance. The visitors used a 0-11 first-quarter run to build a 15-31 and despite a few Jerusalem comeback attempts, the outcome was never in serious doubt after that. Kyle Weems led the Strasbourg attack with 15 points and 7 rebounds, Rod Beaubois added 14 points and Matt Howard posted 12 points and 7 boards. Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas rallied past Avtodor Saratov 85-92 and then it waited for the outcome of the game in the Israeli capital before learning that it could celebrate a berth in the eighthfinals. Gran Canaria started strong and led by 14 after 10 minutes and 18 in the second, but the hosts used a 9-0 run to stay alive. Still it was 35-44 at halftime. Jeremy Chappell scored 6 points in a 10-0 third-quarter run that gave Avtodor the lead for the first time, 61-57. After several lead changes, a 12-1 surge, which included a pair of Paul Stoll threes gave the hosts a promising 82-75 lead, but Gran Canaria reeled off a 0-10 run led by Sasu Salin to regain the lead for good. Salin added two more baskets and a key assist to close it out in the final two minutes. Salin finished with 19 points.
Group I
In its second game under new head coach Dusko Vujosevic, Limoges CSP recorded an 82-67 victory over visiting Valencia Basket for the second win in as many weeks over a club that had been undefeated prior to last week’s Last 32 Round 3 defeat by the French champs. Limoges is now 2-0 since Vujosevic took over. Bo Mcalebb scored 15 points in 19 minutes to lead the winners, Leo Westermann tallied 11 points and 7 assists and Nobel Boungou-Colo posted 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, including a steal and slam for a 20-point difference in the fourth quarter that started the celebrations. With Valencia up 3 in the third quarter, Limoges used a 15-0 surge to make it 62-50 at the end of the quarter and pulled away for good in the fourth. EWE Baskets Oldenburg swept PAOK Thessaloniki 83-71 to climb atop the group standings with a 3-1 record. PAOK was in the game for the first quarter and a half and led by 2 on an Apollon Tsochlas triple, but the hosts scored the last 8 points of the half to lead 48-39. Chris Kramer scored 8 in a 13-0 third-quarter run that took the difference into the 20s and the lead eventually peaked at 27 in the fourth quarter before Oldenburg eased up down the stretch. Kramer finished with 23 points and 5 assists to lead the winners.
Group J
The first road winner in the group came when EA7 Emporio Armani Milan held off Neptunas Klaipeda 73-74 on Tuesday on Jamel McLean’s late free throw. Milan used a 2-11 second-quarter charge to surge ahead, led 26-36 at halftime and boosted the difference to 17 in the third quarter. Neptunas rallied back and tied the game at 71-71 with two-and-a-half minutes to go. It came down to the closing seconds, when McLean split free throws to put Milan up 1 and Donatas Zavackas’s last-second heave for the win missed. Krunoslav Simon led the winners with 15 points and 6 assists. On Wednesday, Aris Thessaloniki downed ALBA Berlin 73-63 to remain undefeated at home, but ALBA has the tie-break advantage thanks to its 15-point win against Aris in the German capital a week ago. Aris took control and the lead late in the first quarter, and went in to halftime with a 42-34 margin. ALBA closed to within a single point, 55-54 at the end of third after back-to-back three-pointers from Dragan Milosavljevic. However, Jerel McNeal and Vassilis Symtsak fueled a 12-0 run that sealed the win. McNeal led the winners with 25 points, and Symtsak added 18 in victory.
Group K
Two Italian teams played hosts to visitors from Turkey on Wednesday, and both home sides registered important wins. Dolomiti Energia Trento held off Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir 76-72 to take sole possession of first place in the group. Trento swept Karsiyaka and improved to 3-1 after opening the game with a 22-5 lead, and held a double-digit lead for more than three quarters. Karsiyaka rallied in the final five minutes of the game, but Trento held on as Davide Pascolo and Filippo Baldi Rossi each scored 17 points. Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia downed Trabzonspor Medical Park 89-76, overcoming last week’s 6-point loss in Trabzon. Both teams have a 2-2 record behind Trento. The hosts broke the game open with 7-0 and 11-0 runs to take a 37-20 lead, and held a comfortable margin the rest of the way. Amedeo Della Valle led the winners with 18 points and Vladimir Veremeenko added 16 and 10 rebounds. Dwight Hardy led Trabzonspor with 20 points.
Group L
Stelmet Zielona Gora beat previously undefeated Zenit St. Petersburg 69-73 on Wednesday. Zenit would have advanced to the eighthfinals with a win and will qualify with its next win, regardless of other scores. After a 33-33 tie at halftime, Mateusz Ponitka and Dejan Borovnjak fueled Zielona Gora to a double-digit lead and the visitors led 56-70 in the fourth. The hosts rallied to within 69-72, but a blocked shot by Ponitka sealed the outcome. Ponitka paced the winners with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks, while Borovnjak chipped in with 12 points. Umana Reyer Venice beat MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg 71-64. Venice led 36-28 at halftime and boosted its margin to 50-34 soon after the break. The hosts sealed the outcome long before the final buzzer, but Ludwigsburg rallied to at least get the tie-break advantage if both teams finish the Last 32 with the same record. Phillip Goss led the winners with 16 points, while Mike Green tallied 10 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for Venice. Jon Brockman had 13 points and 15 rebounds for the visitors.
Group M
In a high-profile showdown, Unics Kazan beat Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 78-68 and booked its place in the eighthfinals. Unics swept Maccabi and improved to 4-0 with a two-win lead over of Maccabi and Nizhny Novgorod. Unics made a late second-quarter push to open a 43-32 lead at the break, but Maccabi used its defense to get back in the game, and tied it at 50-50 late in the third quarter. However, Anton Ponkrashov hit 3 three-pointers in the first five minutes of the fourth, as Unics opened a 71-56 margin, which paved the way to victory. Keith Langford paced the winners with 20 points and 9 rebounds, while Ponkrashov finished with 15 points and 5 assists. Sylven Landesberg scored 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while Trevor Mbakwe amassed 15 points plus 12 rebounds in defeat. In another clash on Russian soil, Nizhny Novgorod defeated Union Olimpija Ljubljana 81-74 on Tuesday evening and thus eliminated the visitors from eighthfinals contention. Victor Rudd scored 17 of his 28 points in the first quarter as the hosts took charge early and led by as many as 16. Olimpija rallied late with a 0-10 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters and took the lead at 63-64. However Vladimir Ivlev scored the next three baskets to keep Olimpija at bay and Nizhny held on the rest of the way. The victory boosted Nizhny’s record to 2-2 in Group M.
Group N
After trailing late in the third quarter, Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul took charge to beat Szolnoki Olaj 54-74 on the road on Wednesday and take a big step towards a place in the eighthfinals. It’s the first road win for any team in Group N, which improved Galatasaray to 3-1. Szolnoki had a slim 45-44 lead in the third quarter before Curtis Jerrells hit a triple that started a 6-21 charged that bridged the third and fourth quarters with Blake Schilb and Vladimir Micov fueling the run to break the game open. Micov shot 5-for-8 from three-point land, netting 25 points, Schilb collected 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists while Joey Dorsey amassed 10 points and 15 boards in victory. Reigning Italian champion Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari edged CAI Zaragoza 75-72 in a game in which it never trailed. CAI earned the tie-breaking advantage with its 12-point win over Sassari last week. Sassari led 44-28 at halftime, but CAI slowly melted the deficit and got within 65-62 midway through the fourth quarter. However, Sassari never relinquished the lead as MarQuez Haynes finished with 16 points and 8 assists, while Jarvis Varando collected 13 points and 8 rebounds.
Source: Eurocup
