Valencia will take a 9-point lead with them to Russia next week as they beat Nizhny Novgorod 84-75 in the Eurocup semi-final, first leg on Tuesday night.
The hosts started out slowly against their opponents, who some have considered a surprise package in this year’s competition. But Valencia started to step up the gears and a 13-0 to end the second period of play saw them lead 41-32 at half-time and never look back.
Novgorod were so close to preparing for the second leg with a larger deficit though. Trailing 61-43 at one, they looked down and out. However, the visitors carved out a 16-2 burst to make the scoreline a little more respectable, and a three-pointer from Semen Antonov brought it to single-digits, which will upset Valencia coach Velimir Perasovic.
Montenegrin Bojan Dubljevic led Valencia with 24 points, supported by Pau Ribas and Justin Doellman, who hit 17 and 16 points respectively.
Dijon Thompson paced Nizhny Novgorod with a game-high 25 points, as he turned on the style in the first half, especially in the first quarter but found little help from his team-mates. Pavel Korobkov added 14 points.
