Game 2 in the best-of-three quarterfinals produced a pair of road-winning semifinalists, both of them former 7DAYS EuroCup champions, on Friday! At the same time two other teams stayed alive with home wins forcing do-or-die Game 3 showdowns next Wednesday.
Zenit St. Petersburg 0-2 Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
With another fast start and game-long aggressive defense, former 7DAYS EuroCup champion Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar vaulted into the semifinals with a 77-88 road win over Zenit St. Petersburg on Friday, sweeping their best-of-three quarterfinal series. Lokomotiv blasted off to leads of 10-25 after one quarter and 20-39 midway through the second before Zenit mounted a comeback that never got closer than eight points late in the game. Kevin Jones paced the winners with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Andrey Zubkov added 14, Matt Janning 13 and Taylor Rochestie 12 points for the winners. Vladimir Ivlev joined Jones with 9 rebounds as Lokomotiv dominated Zenit by 38-18 on the boards, including a 14-5 edge on the offensive glass. Stefan Markovic scored 21 and dished 12 assists for Zenit, while Sergey Karasev added 20 points and Aaron White 11.
Unicaja Malaga 1-1 FC Bayern Munich
Unicaja Malaga protected its home court with 82-67 win over FC Bayern Munich to force a decisive Game 3 in their 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals series. Dejan Musli picked up 15 points as Unicaja snapped Bayern’s 10-game winning streak in the EuroCup to set up the third game on Wednesday at the Audi Dome. Unicaja took control in the second quarter, opened a 15-point margin in the third, and after Bayern made a charge, the hosts used a strong finish to the third quarter to re-establish a double-digit margin and never looked back. Jamar Smith came off the bench for Unicaja for 13 points and both Jeff Brooks and Adam Waczynski scored 11. Bayern had Anton Gavel and Nick Johnson score 10 points apiece.
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas 0-2 Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem
Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem never trailed in 79-85 road victory over Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas, sweeping its quarterfinal best-of-three series and booking a spot in the 7DAYS EuroCup semifinals. Jerusalem used a big first quarter to establish control, and held off Gran Canaria’s rallies behind 23 points from Curtis Jerrells, 16 points from Jerome Dyson, while Amar’e Stoudemire added 15 points and 8 rebounds for Jerusalem. In the semis, Jerusalem will face the winner of the quarterfinal series between Valencia Basket and Khimki Moscow Region. Sasu Salin netter 17 points for Gran Canaria, and Albert Oliver added 16 points in defeat.
Khimki Moscow Region 1-1 Valencia Basket
Khimki Moscow Region lives to fight another day in the 7DAYS EuroCup Quarterfinals after pulling away strong to beat visiting Valencia Basket 98-74 on the road Friday in Game 2 of their best-of-three series. Game 3 to decide a semifinalist between these multiple former EuroCup champions will be next Wedneday in Valencia. Alexey Shved neared a triple double for the winners with 17 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds, breaking open the game with a lot of big shots in the fourth quarter, which Khimki won 29-12. Jacob Pullen led Khimki with 18 points while Dmitriy Sokolov was huge with 16, Robbie Hummel added 14 and E.J. Rowland had 10. Joan Sastre was Valencia’s top gun with 18 points, while Bojan Dubljevic had 17 and Will Thomas 10.
