Valencia and Stelmet Gora both came from double digits deficits to get wins this Tuesday in the start of Week 5.
Valencia Basket trailed by 22 points in this game to overcame VEF Riga at their home with a 96-103 win after OT.
The Latvian squad playing in front of their home crowd started extremely well this game with a 37-15 lead in the middle of the second quarter and looked like it was a controlled game until a run in the last 3 minutes of the quarter to give Riga only an 11 point lead at the half time.
In the third quarter, Justin Doellman scored 13 straight points to cut the gap between both teams and tie the game 70-70. After that it was back and forth lead changes by both teams, and the regular time finished 90-90.
Riga never got the lead in overtime, and with some cluch free throws Valencia took a much-needed win to keep their hopes alive for the Quarter Finals.
Justin Doellman was again the main guy for Valencia finishing with 23 points and 8 boards well surrounded by Bojan Dubljevic and Pau Ribas both with 18.
On the home squad side, Earl Rowland had a huge game finishing with 29 points, 6 boards and 5 assists to an index rating of 25.
Flying to Czech Republic we go to Nymburk where after a 69-83 loss against Uxue Bilbao the Czech Republics were eliminated from the competition.
The key to this game was the start from the Spanish side with a 7-29 run in the first fifteen minutes which was enough to control this game until the end.
Milovan Rakovic had 18 points and Kostas Vasiliadis added 17 for Bilbao while Radoslav Rankic and Petr Benda scored 19 and 17, grabbing 7 and 6 boards respectively for Nymburk.
Next week Bilbao will receive Riga at their home to decide which team will advance to the next round in a beautiful clash.
In a game just to fulfill the schedule because both teams where already eliminated of the competition for a spot in the Quarter Finals, Stelmet Zielona Gora came from a 15 point deficit to get a victory in Seville against Cajasol, 81-85.
The 15 point lead was achieved in the 2nd quarter, but Walter Hodge took the team on his shoulders and equaled the game with a quick run to tie the game at 43-43 at halftime.
Zielona finished the game in a 0-9 run which was enough to get a well-deserved win on the road to show that their debut at this stage of the competition wasn’t a fluke.
Walter Hodge had a huge game for Zielona with 31 points, 5 assists and 3 steals for an index rating of 42 that will almost assured him the MVP of the week award. Hodge was seconded by Oliver Stevic that added 18 points and 7 boards.
On the losing side, John Holland had 15 points and Ondrej Balvin flirted a double double with 8 points and 8 boards.
