Regular season Round 3 is in the books! Incredibly enough, only one team – Dominion Bilbao Basket – was able to win in front of its fans. Seven road warriors got very valuable wins. From unexpected blowouts to upsets all around the continent, Round 3 had a little bit of everything for road teams on an action-packed Wednesday.
GROUP A
Nizhny Novgorod grabbed its first win by downing previously undefeated Lietkabelis Panevezys 72-75 in Lithuania. Petr Gubanov led the winners with 20 points, including the game-winning three-point shot. De Andre Kane added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Nizhny, which bounced back from its home loss against Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas. Ksistof Lavrinovic led Lietkabelis with 17 points. Cedevita Zagreb also recorded its first win, beating MZT Skopje 85-89. Newcomer Pierre Jackson led the way with 29 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Filip Kruslin added 14 points off the bench on 4-of-6 three-point shooting. Free throws by Jackson put the victory on ice with a second left.
GROUP B
Khimki Moscow Region left no doubt about its potential by thrashing ALBA Berlin 72-102 in the German capital. Jacob Pullen led the way for the winners with 25 points and 5 assists off the bench. Sergey Monya posted a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds while Egor Vialtsev fired in 4 of 5 three-point shots on his way to 15 points. Elmedin Kikanovic led ALBA with 19 points. Khimki outrebounded the hosts by 26-42, in the biggest key to this game. Dominion Bilbao Basket edged Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 80-76 with 19 points from Alex Mumbru and 14 from Scott Bamforth. David Logan led Rytas with 19 points. Michael Eric had 6 of his team’s final 9 points to seal it down the stretch.
GROUP C
UCAM Murcia grabbed its first-ever road win in Europan competitions by downing Zenit St. Petersburg 83-85 in overtime. Facu Campazzo led the way with 22 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 6 steals. He also hit the go-ahead three-pointer late in overtime. Billy Baron had 16 points for Murcia, while Aaron White led Zenit with 18. Murcia pulled down 14 offensive boards and outrebounded Zenit 35-48. In Malaga, Spain, FC Bayern Munich rallied from a double-digit deficit to top Unicaja 62-74 on the road. Vladimir Lucic paced the winners with 18 points. Devin Booker added 13 and 9 rebounds for Bayern, which held Unicaja scoreless for six minutes in the fourth quarter. Dejan Musli had 19 points for the hosts.
GROUP D
Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem remained undefeated in the 2016-17 7DAYS EuroCup by topping Union Olimpija Ljubljana 74-89 in the Slovenian capital. Tarence Kinsey scored 23 points while Curtis Jerrells added 22 for Hapoel, which kept full control of the game in the fourth quarter. Drazen Bubnic led Olimpija with 17 points. Hapoel committed just 9 turnovers to Olimpija’s 15. In Russia, ratiopharm Ulm upset Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar 62-77 on the road. Dominique Sutton and Chris Babb led Ulm with 16 points apiece. Ulm hit 9-of-20 three-point shots (45% compared to Lokomotiv’s 17.2%, 5-of-29) and limited its turnovers to just 9.
