In a late thriller in Krasnodar, ASVEL Villeurbanne stood tall and edged Lokomotiv Kuban to claim a big win on the road (65-67).
It was a close game from the opening tip, as no team could take a significant advantage (15-15, 34-34, 52-51).
Alpha Kaba gave the visitors a six-point lead (61-67), but Dmitry Kulagin cut the deficit to two, with 40 seconds to go (65-67).
ASVEL made the turnover and Lokomotiv had the chance to win the game, but Vitaly Fridzon missed the shot from downtown at the buzzer and the hosts were defeated.
Kaba led the winners with 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, as David Lighty and Amine Noua added 15 and 13 points, respectively.
On the other hand, Jamel McLean had 17 points and eight boards for the losing squad, with Mateusz Ponitka posting 13 points and Kulagin 12, respectively.
ASVEL now is at 1-0 in Group F, whereas Lokomotiv dropped to 0-1.
In Group E, Dominique Sutton led Rytas Vinius past Partizan (80-74), with 21 points and five rebounds.
At the same time, Andorra endured the comeback of Cedevita from a 14-point deficit (59-73) and earned its first win in Group H (81-87), with Andrew Albicy having 22 points and eight assists.
