Another interesting week of Eurocup basketball concludes as the second round picture starts to get a little clearer from here on in.
Group A
FoxTown Cantu stayed unbeaten in Group A with an 86-79 road win at winless Cibona Zagreb.
Pietro Anadori paced Cantu with 20 points, as a 30-16 first quarter was enough, even though the hosts staged a comeback, they couldn’t pull it back enough.
Matthew Janning scored 18 for Cibona.
Telenet Ostend climbed to second place in the group with an impressive 80-71 win at Le Mans.
A 19-0 run put Le Mans 63-61 ahead early in the fourth quarter, but a 15-0 counter from Ostend turned out to be the dagger as they claimed the win and a 4-1 record while Le Mans went to 3-2.
Ryan Thompson led Ostend with 25 points.
Following their win over Artland Dragons on Tuesday, VEZ Nymburk announced the signing of Macedonian guard Vlado Ilievski for the remainder of the season.
Group B
Group B’s only game saw Dinamo Sassari thrash Spirou Charleroi 94-78.
Drake Diener led the Italians with 23 points as they nailed 12 three-pointers to pull away from their Belgian counterparts.
Demond Mallet finished with 18 points for Charleroi as they remain winless after five games played.
Group C
Asvel edged Valencia 79-76 as they got the job done from the foul line to get the win.
Chris Wright and Edwin Jackson both got 17 points to lead Asvel to victory as they improve to 3-2 in the group.
Ratiopharm Ulm sneaked a 78-77 win over Cimberio Varese as Cameron Long hit the game-winning free throw with 6 seconds left to claim the win.
Long finished with 21 points to help lead Ulm to victory.
Union Olimpija Ljubljana remained unbeaten at the Stozice as they beat Paris Levallois 74-66 in overtime.
Deividas Gallius led the Slovenian champions with 21 points as they recovered from losing a five-point lead with nine seconds left on the clock to record the victory in the extra session.
Group E
Lukoil Academic secured their first win of the Eurocup season by downing CSU Ploiesti 85-72 in Romania.
Davin White led the Bulgarian side with 18 points to secure victory despite qualification still being a relative long shot after five games.
Bobby Dixon hit the winning shot with two second remaining to give Izmir an 81-80 win over Hapoel Jerusalem.
The win improved Izmir to 4-1 in the group with Dixon leading the way with 22.
Khimki made it hard work for themselves but eventually ousted Igokea in Bosnia & Herzegovina 91-86 after a session of overtime.
Paul Davis led the Russians with 22 points on the night.
Group F
Nizhny Novgorod are now 4-1 in Group F following an 87-53 demolition of PAOK.
Dijon Thompson led the way for the Russians with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Surprise package Khimik Yukhne edged Buducnost 84-76 in the Ukraine to go 4-1 in the group.
Rolands Freimanis and Matt Gatens each scored 17 to lead the winners while the Montenegrin champions fall to 2-3 behind Aleksandar Capin’s 15 points and seven assists.
Alba Fehervar has reason to celebrate after recording its first ever Eurocup win by downing Aykon Ankara 92-84.
The Hungarian side came from behind to record the win though. Trailing 70-64 after three quarters, Alba stormed ahead in the fourth and never looked back.
Ramone Moore had 25 to lead the winners.
Group E
Unics Kazan were comfortable 85-61 winners over Macedonian side MZT Skopje in Kazan.
The Russians dominated from the start, leading 29-13 after one then building the lead to 48-25 at the half. Skopje were unable to come back after that.
Andrew Goudelock led Kazan with 20 points as they move to a perfect 5-0. Skopje, led by Cade Davis’ 12 points drop to 1-4.
Banvit were also comfortable at home following an 83-64 win over VEF Riga.
Chuck Davis and Sammy Mejia each scored 15 points to lead Banvit to an easy win.
There was no such home joy for Estonians Kalev Tallinn as they lost 68-64 to Maccabi Haifa.
The Israeli champions move to 4-1 in the group as they recovered from a 17-point deficit to claim the win.
Donta Smith was once again outstanding as he scored 21 points to lead the winners.
Group H
Spartak Saint Petersburg improve to 2-3 in the group with an 88-75 win over Lithuanian side Neptunas.
Steve Burtt Jr. led the Russians with 21 points as they return to the hunt for the Round of 16 place.
Panionios were 74-62 winners over Bisons Loimaa and Besiktas improved to 4-1 by winning 77-70 on the road at Radnicki.
