D.J. Cooper drilled a buzzer-beating three-pointer to help PAOK Thessaloniki to an opening day 85-84 win in Group F over Buducnost in the Eurocup.
Center Giorgos Bogris led the victors with 28 points and seven rebounds but it was Cooper’s heroics that will be remembered.
Cooper added 16 points and Michalis Tsairelis got 15. Buducnost were led by 22 points from Aleksa Popovic. Jeleel Akindele secured a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds as well, but it was all in vain.
VEF Riga opened their Eurocup campaign with an 80-71 success over Macedonians MZT Skopje.
22 points from Kenan Bajramovic sealed the win for the Latvians, as they took advantage of a tired Skopje side in the fourth, racing out to a 10-0 run to start the final period to cruise to victory.
Uros Lucic had 15 points to lead Skopje.
BK Banvit defeated Estonians BC Kalev Tallinn 86-60 to get their Eurocup win column ticking.
A 22-10 second quarter blitz from the hosts ensured the victory as Kalev couldn’t come back from a 47-32 half-time deficit.
Sammy Mejia led Banvit with 15 points with Bamba Fall leading all scorers for Tallinn with 16.
Valencia grabbed a road win on the opening night with an 85-68 win over Paris-Levallis in Group C.
Oliver Lafayette led the visitors with 17 points as the Liga Endesa side started off with a victory. Daniel Ewing and Giovan Oniangue both had 10 points for the French side.
Group D saw victories for Alba Berlin, as they picked up an 86-65 away win over Telekom Baskets Bonn and Zaragoza scored a 73-56 home win over Mons.
A potential favourite for the Eurocup, Bilbao began their campaign with an 82-77 win at home to Croatian side Cedevita Zagreb. Alex Mumbru had 19 to lead Bilbao with Nolan Smith’s game-high 24 in vain.
