Valencia advanced to the semi-finals of the Eurocup, despite a 71-68 second leg loss to Unics Kazan.
The Liga Endesa side held on to their 10-point advantage they built on in the first leg to down the Russian side as Pau Ribas led the victors with 16 points.
“I think we played a very good game,” Valencia coach Velimir Perasovic said afterwards.
“We managed to preserve good concentration in difficult moments of the match, especially in the end of the second quarter, when Unics had the possibility to boost their advantage.
“The key moment in this game took place in the third quarter, when we had advantage of 8 points. Unics needed to win at home more than 10 points, which they lost in the first game. All game we suffered problems with free throws. The hosts collected 36 in sum, while we had just 14. We had a problem with fouls, but we stayed concentrated until the end. The result of the series pleased us a lot. We beat a great team, and we are happy, although we should already start thinking of the next games.”
Unics, who were pre-Eurocup favourites are out. Chuck Eidson led them with a game-high 18 points.
Lokomotiv Kuban had a slightly easier passage to the semi-finals as they comfortably beat Buducnost Voli Podgorica 90-65. And with their 18-point victory in the first leg, they won overall by 43 points.
This will be Kuban’s first Eurocup semi-final match-up, and they came through in some style, playing attractive basketball that their Montenegrin counterparts just couldn’t handle.
Lithuanian Simas Jasaitis led Kuban’s scoring with 23 points, which included five three-pointers. Derrick Brown supported with 17.
Buducnost were led by Aleksa Popovic, who was the only player to hit double digit scoring with 14 points.
A dominant second and fourth quarter saw Budivelnik Kiev advance to the semi-finals at the expense of last year’s Final Four entrants Spartak St Petersburg, winning 73-56.
Trailing 83-72 from the first leg, it took the Ukrainans until the second quarter to establish a lead for themselves and despite a comeback from the Russian side, Kiev went up another gear in the final period to seal the victory.
Malcolm Delaney led Kiev with 17 points.