Eight teams are now through to the Eurocup eighthfinals as the Last 32’s penultimate week reached its climax. There was also a history making win for Khimki against Montepaschi Siena.
Group I
Kasiyaka Izmir were comfortable 90-78 winners over Ratiopharm Ulm in Turkey as they improved to 2-3, leaving themselves with a good shot of progressing to the next round.
Esteban Batista was outstanding for the hosts with a personal haul of 29 points, off 11/13 shooting and 9 rebounds. The Germans, who due to winning the head-to-head with Izmir still hold the top spot in the group were led by German international Per Guenther, as he amassed 17 points.
Group J
Aykon Ankara advanced to the next round by thrashing newly crowned Italian Cup champions Dinamo Sassari 104-75 in the Turkish capital.
Vladimir Golubovic put in the performance of the week with a monster double-double of 28 points and 17 rebounds as the hosts qualified for the eighthfinals while Travis Diener had 13 for Sassari, who have to beat Brose Baskets by 12 points or more in the last round of games to advance.
Rakim Sanders led the way with 14 points as Brose Baskets won 70-59 at home to Gravelines. The German side who moved over from the Euroleague will advance to the next round if they win or lose by less than 12 points to Dinamo Sassari next week.
Group K
Khimki comfortably defeated Montepaschi Siena 85-73 to seal a Eurocup-record 14th straight win and send Siena, the Euroleague Final Four side in 2011 tumbling out.
James Augustine led the winners with 18 points on a perfect 9/9 shooting display. Spencer Nelson led Montepaschi also with 18.
CEZ Nymburk are in pole position to qualify from Group K after they beat Maccabi Haifa 68-53 in the Czech capital of Prague. The result means that Nymburk hold the head-to-head over the Israeli champions and simply need to beat already eliminated Montepaschi next week.
Haifa, on the other hand need to win their final game against Khimki and hope that Nymburk loses its final game in order to advance.
Group L
Red Star Belgrade advanced to the eighthfinals with an 85-81 win at Bilbao as the Serbian side eliminate the Liga Endesa side from the competition.
At 4-1, Red Star will now square-off with Nizhny Novgorod next week to determine who gets top spot. Nizhny were comfortable 80-67 winners at home to Panionios, whose fate was decided last week.
Group M
Hapoel Jerusalem advanced to the next round with an 86-77 win at a noisy Goldberg Arena over Union Olimpija as they clinched top spot in the group.
Josh Duncan led six Jerusalem scorers in double figures with 21 points and 9 rebounds as they go to 4-1.
Ricky Minard’s jumper with time winding down was enough for Budivielnik Kiev to edge BK Banvit 60-59 as they took a big step in qualifying for the eighthfinals.
Janis Strelnieks paced the victors with 13 points while Banvit’s fate is out of their hands if they want to advance.
Group N
Group N is wide open as Radnicki thrashed Khimik Yukhne 86-68 to create a three-way tie in the group.
With Alba Belrin already through, Radnicki has the tie-break advantage against both Khimik and Strasbourg, so it will qualify if it wins. Khimik will only qualify if it wins and Group N champion Alba Berlin downs Radnicki.
Group O
Unics Kazan advanced to the eighthfinal with an 82-64 win over Stelmet Zielona Gora who are now eliminated following this latest defeat.
Ian Vougioukas led the winners with a perfect night of 19 points – 6/6 from the field and 7/7 free throws, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
Valencia completed the Group O line-up for the next round with a crushing 84-64 win over Telenet Ostend.
Bojan Dubljevic paced Valencia with 26 points.
Group P
A 20-9 third quarter propelled Lietuvos Rytas to an 84-63 in Istanbul over Besiktas.
Both teams are sitting joint top of the group and will advance if they both win next week. The Lithuanians have the head-to-head over Besiktas and would finish top if they won their last group game.
The other game in the group saw Zaragoza edge Cedevita Zagreb 77-74 in the Croatian capital.
