Eurocup: Five Undefeated, Four Clinch Last 16

Eurocup week four is in the books, and the field of the Last 16 has started to take shape. Four clubs, BC Triumph Lyubertsy, BC Spartak SPB, Gescrap Bilbao Basket, and Crvena Zvezda Diva, have clinched spots in the next round of play, all also making it through week four with unblemished records. Joining them with a perfect 4-0 mark, but playing in a group that is close enough that they still could get knocked out is Unics Kazan with Stelmet Zielona Gora and Telenet Oostende at 2-2. Host teams had a huge advantage in week four as 13 of 16 games were won in front of friendly crowds. Two road wins were by undefeated teams and ended up with margins of three points.

Group A
BC Budivelnik Kiev – Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem, 84:77
BC Budivelnik Kiev need a 10:0 run at the end of the game to earn their second Eurocup win and improve to 2-2, while Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem fell to 1-3 on the season. The two clubs battled to a 46:44 halftime score and Budivelnik bumped the margin to four in the third by outscoring their guests 16:14 in the quarter. There was little exchanging of baskets in the fourth, instead they exchanged big scoring runs started by Hapoel who took the first one early in quarter putting together nine unanswered to take a 62:65 lead. Budivelnik fought back with a 10:2 run of their own to regain the advantage and build a cushion at 72:67. Hapoel’s Courtney Fells took his turn, scoring eight unanswered points of his own to bring his squad back into the lead, 72:75. The hosts took it from there and closed out the contest with a 12:2 run to keep themselves in contention for a Top 16 spot.
Top Scorers:
BC Budivelnik Kiev: Malcom Delany 22; Leo Lyons 20; Artur Drozdov 18; George Tsintsadze 12.
Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem: Jacob Pullen 22; Courtney Fells 19; Elishay Kadir 10.

CEZ Nymburk – BC Prienai, 90:66
CEZ Nymburk kept their top spot in Group A with a 90:66 pounding of BC Prienai, who came into the contest tied with Nymburk at 2-1. The win pushed the hosts to 3-1, while Prienai drops to 2-2 and in a tie with BC Budivelnik. Prienai opened the contest taking the first quarter 14:18. Nymburk took control of the game after that and cruised to a 24-point win. Petr Benda and Vojtech Hruban both dropped in 20 points for the home club.
Top Scorers:
CEZ Nymburk: Petr Benda 20; Vojtech Hruban 20; Miljan Pavkovic 15; Radoslav Rancik 11; Drew Naymick 10.
BC Prienai: Siim-Sander Vene 13; Arminas Urbutis 13; Zygimantas Janavicius 12.

Group B
Gescrap Bilbao Basket – Lukoil Academic, 82:60
Gescrap Bilbao Basket can start making plans for the next round as they clinched a seat at the table in the Top 16 with a decisive 22-point victory over Lukoil Academic Sofia, 82:60. The win keeps Bilbao undefeated in Eurocup competition at 4-0, and drops Lukoil to 1-3, who still has a shot at the Last 16 if they win their last two games and beat Buducnost by more than 3 and Buducnost also loses to Bilbao next week. Lukoil grabbed the early lead, jumping out to a 17:20 margin after the first quarter. Bilbao quickly turned things around, outscoring their visitors 23:9 in the second and then both second half quarters to lock down their Last 16 position.
Top Scorers:
Gescrap Bilbao Basket: Kostas Vasiliadis 20; Roger Grimau 13; Milovan Rakovic 10.
Lukoil Academic: Brandon Heath 18; Mohamed Abukar 16; Devin Green 13; Darryle Watkins 12.

Buducnost VOLI – Belgacom Spirou, 59:55
Buducnost VOLI moved closer to earning a spot in the Eurocup Last 16 when they fought off a late charge by Belgacom Spirou to earn a 59:55 win at home in front of 1,100 friendlies. The win moved VOLI to 3-1 and two games up on third place club Lukoil and potentially sets up a winner-take-all contest in week six since Vuducnost plays undefeated Bilbao and Lukoil has last place Belgacom Spirou next week. The final game could determine who moves on as Buducnost only holds a three-point advantage in the tie breaker. Spirou cut the lead to 56:55 with just under half a minute to play. VOLI’s Cedomir Vitkovac dropped in a pair of singles to give the hosts a three-point lead with 19 clicks left. Jason Fontenet had a chance to knot the score at 58 for Spirou, but came up short and Vitkovac snagged the rebound and the win.
Top Scorers:
Buducnost VOLI: Demarquis Bost 16; Gerald Lee 12.
Belgacom Spirou: Jason Fontenet 19; Nikola Jankovic 10.

Group C
BC Triumph Lyubertsy – VEF Riga, 82:77
BC Triumph Lyubertsy also grabbed a spot on the Last 16 with a win on Wednesday. By defeating VEF Riga, Triumph remains undefeated at 4-0. Riga drops to 1-3, but is not eliminated from moving on as they have games with second place Le Mans and last place Artland Dragons remaining. If they beat Artland next week and Le Mans loses to Triumph, the last game of the regular season will determine the second Last 16 spot. Le Mans holds a nine-point advantage in the tie breaker based on an 80:89 win they got on the road against Riga on Nov. 13. Triumph certainly wasn’t handed their ticket to the Last 16 without a fight on Wednesday, Riga built an early lead, gave it up in the second to go into the intermission down seven 41:34, but brought the score back to within one heading into the final 10, 59:58. Tasamin Mitchell was the key to Triumph’s win, tallying up 11 of his game-high 21, including a couple of key deuces at the end when Riga was threatening.
Top Scorers:
BC Triumph Lyubertsy: Tasamin Mitchell 21; Tywain McKee 15; Kyle Landry 15; Sergey Karasev 11.
VEF Riga: Earl Rowland 17; Kristaps Janicenoks 13; Dairis Bertains 12; Donatas Zavackas 10; Will Daniels 10.

Le Mans Sarthe – Artland Dragons, 88:51
Le Mans Sarthe kept a one game advantage on VEF Riga with a beat down of Group C last place club the Artland Dragons, 88:51. Artland drops to 1-3 and needs to beat Riga and Triumph and have Riga beat Le Mans to move on to the Last 16. As mentioned in the Triumph-Riga game, Le Mans needs to be Riga or lose by no more than eight to move on. If they beat Triumph next week they eliminate both Riga and Artland. Le Mans simply outplayed Artland every quarter of this contest, winning each quarter by no fewer than seven points. Six of Le Mans’ players scored in double figures.
Top Scorers:
Le Mans Sarthe: Cameron Long 15; Cuthbert Victor 14; Charles Kahudi 13; Joao Paulo Batista 12; Khalid El-Amin 10; Alain Koffi 10.
Artland Dragons: Anthony King 12; Bryce Taylor 11.

Group D
Azovmash Mariupol – Banvit BK Bandirma, 88:95
Banvit BK Bandirma moved into a tie for the group lead with an 88:92 win over Azovmash, combined with a Valencia loss. It wasn’t easy for Banvit though as it took an extra five to secure the victory The win puts Banvit at 3-1, while the loss keeps Azovmash winless at 0-4. The host squad Azovmash led the contest for the better part of the game until the fourth quarter, coming in to the final 10 up 63:56. The game completely turned around in the fourth quarter with the score sitting at 75:67, Kalin Lucas got the hot hand and dumped in three consecutive triples, while the Banvit defense held Azovmash scoreless. The nine-point explosion gave the visitors a one-point lead, 75:76 with three slow numbers left on the clock. From that point the two clubs fought hard to counter every move the other made and with the score knotted at 82 both teams had shots to pull ahead late in regulation, but a block on the Banvit end and a missed jumper on the hosts side had the scorekeepers moving over to quarter five. Banvit dominated the OT, outscoring their hosts 6:13 to Keep Banvit in the top spot in the group. Lynn Greer had a game-high 28 (40 PIR) for Azovmash, while Banvit had three score over 20: Chuck Davis, Kalin Lucas, and Vladimir Stimac.
Top Scorers:
Azovmash Mariupol: Lynn Greer 28; Simonas Serapinas 15; Miroslav Raduljica 14; Tadija Dragicevic 11.
Banvit BK Bandirma: Chuck Davis 22; Kalin Lucas 20; Vladimir Stimac 20; Kenan Bajramovic 14.

s.Oliver Basket – Valencia Basket, 89:82
s.Oliver Basket handed Valencia Basket it’s first loss of the season with an 89:82 win at home. The win moves s.Oliver to 2-2 and drops Valencia to 3-1 and tied with Banvit for the top spot in the group and sets up a show-down between the two top teams next week in Turkey. Jimmy McKinney dropped in 14 points in the final quarter for s.Oliver, and they used an 8:0 run down the stretch to seal the win for their 3,000 fans in attendance.
Top Scorers:
s.Oliver Basket: Jimmy McKinney 21; Dwayne Anderson 17; Oliver Clay 11.
Valencia Basket: Rafa Martinez 20; Bojan Dubljevic 17; Justin Doellman 17.

Group E
Trefl Sopot – BC Donetsk, 77:67
Trefl Sopot picked up their first win on the season with a 77:67 win at home against BC Donetsk, 77:67. After week four action, both teams have 1-3 records and sit at the bottom of Group E. Donetsk built an 11-point lead going into the dressing rooms at the half on a score of 34:45. The hosts cut the margin to five heading into the last frame and outscoring Donetsk 24:9 in the last 10 to earn the win. Filip Dylewicz tallied 20 points for Trefl in the win.
Top Scorers:
Trefl Sopot: Filip Dylewicz 20; Sime Spralja 11; Frank Turner 10; Marcin Stefanski 10.
BC Donetsk: Vojdan Stojanovski 15; Darius Songaila 14.

Galatasaray Medical Park – Lokomotiv Kuban, 76:52
Galatasaray Medical Park knocked Lokomotiv Kuban out of the ranked of the unbeaten in a convincing manner when they thrashed their guests 76:52 in Istanbul in front of and estimated 6,250 fans. The result evens the clubs at 3-1 and brings them one win each from clinching a spot in the Last 16. Even with the 24-point margin of victory, GS Med couldn’t quite overcome the 25-point advantage that Kuban came into the game with, so Kuban sits in first and wins a tie breaker between the two should it become necessary. The hosts won every quarter and had five players in double figures en route to their third win on the season.
Top Scorers:
Galatasaray Medical Park: David Hawkins 14; Erwin Dudley 10; Milan Macvan 10; Boniface Ndong 10 (12 rebounds); Cenk Akyol 10.
Lokomotiv Kuban: Nick Calathes 19; Andrey Zubkov 10.

Group F
Unics Kazan – Panionios BC Athens, 82:73
Unics Kazan and Panionios BC Athens kept their respective ‘0’s in their records as Kazan pounded away for the first three quarters to put the game out of reach despite a 13:21 last quarter comeback attempt by Panionios. Kazan stayed at the top of Group F, but still hasn’t clinched a spot in the Last 16 since they play the two 2-2 teams over the last two weeks of the season and if they lose by more than seven to Stelmet and more than 11 to Telenet, they will drop to third. A win next week against Stelmet clinches. Panionios drops to 0-4, but can still earn a spot in the Last 16 if Kazan beats both Stelmet and Telenet and Panionios beats them both by margins of more than 19 and more than six, they can move into the second spot. Niccos Pappas scored 34 and had a performance index rating of 44 in the loss.
Top Scorers:
Unics Kazan: Ian Vougioukas 17; Chuck Eidson 15; Kostas Kaimakoglou 14; Mire Chatman 12; Igor Zamanskiy 10.
Panionios BC Athens: Nikos Papps 34.

Stelmet Zielona Gora – Telenet Oostende, 85:61
Stelmet Zielona Gora manhandled their guest club Telenet Oostende Wednesday, handling the Belgians a 24-point drubbing to even the team’s records at 2-2 on the season. As mentioned above, both clubs have scenarios that put them in the Last 16 and also keep them out of the Last 16 depending on scores in the last two games. This contest was over early as the hosts built a 23-point advantage by halftime and cruised to the win in the second half. Stelmet had five players in double figures
Top Scorers:
Stelmet Zielona Gora: Walter Hodge 22; Rob Jones 18; Oliver Stevic 16; Quinton Hosley 11; Mantas Cesnaukis 10.
Telenet Oostende: Mario Stojic 16; Matthew Lojeski 12; Jamel McLean 10.

Group G
Cholet Basket – KK Cibona Zagreb, 79:59
Cholet Basket moved into a tie for the second spot in Group G with a big win over winless Cibona Zagreb, 79:59. Even the news that Cibona had just signed prized prospect Dario Saric earlier in the day couldn’t help the Croatians from the beating they got from the French on their home turf. Cholet used big quarters in the first and third to run away with this key game for them to set up a re-match next week with Ratiopharm, who currently has a 22-point advantage in the tie-break. With this loss, Cibona is eliminated from contention for the Last 16.
Top Scorers:
Cholet Basket: Derrick Obasohan 19; Rudy Gobert 11; Travon Bryant 10; Rudy Jomby 10.
KK Cibona Zagreb: Justin Hamilton 12; Hrvoje Kovacevic 11.

Ratiopharm Ulm – Spartak St. Petersburg, 74:77
Spartak SPB locked in their invitation to the Last 16 with a thrilling 74:77 road in over second place Ratiopharm Ulm in front of an estimated 5,350. The win keeps Spartak undefeated and drops Ratiopharm to 2-2 with two weeks in the regular season to play. Ratiopharm is also tied with Cholet Basket for the second spot in the group. The fans got their money’s worth with this contest as they two clubs battled back and forth for the entire game, with each score at the end of the first three quarters being a one-point margin. Heading into the final 10, Spartak held the point lead, 49:50. With the score at 74:75 and the clock reading 13 ticks remaining, Josh Carter split a part of singles for Spartak to push the score to 74:76. Ratiopharm got the ball down for a final shot to tie or win, but the ball was stolen by Loukas Mavrokefalides, who was fouled and also split his singles to add one to the visitor’s tally, 74:77. Per Guenther got an opportunity to send the game into an extra session, but clanked it wide at the buzzer, giving Spartak their fourth win and tickets to the Last 16.
Top Scorers:
Ratiopharm Ulm: Allan Ray 15; John Bryant 12; Keaton Nankivil 11.
Spartak St. Petersburg: Loukas Mavrokefalides 19;Joshua Carter 17; Patrick Beverley 15; Zach Wright 13.

Group H
B. Sardegna Sassari – Crvena Zvezda Diva, 94:97
Red Star Belgrade squandered a nine-point lead going into the final frame, but got out of the Palaserradimingni Arena with their unblemished record intact when Sassari’s Travis Diener missed three free throws with 0.6 seconds on the clock to blow an opportunity to send the contest into an extra five. The win sends Red Star their invite to the Last 16, the loss drops Sassari to 1-3 and a game out of second. The visitors took a 10-point margin into the intermission, 43:53, and maintained in the third, losing one off the advantage, 69:78. Early in the fourth Sassari went on a 7:2 run to cut the gap to four, Red Star countered to push back to nine, but then with three minutes left the hosts again pulled to within four. Diener nailed a three-ball shortly after to knot the score at 90 with two slow numbers on the clock. The scorekeeper took a break for the better part of the last two minutes, but the clubs made up for it in the last handful of seconds as they had things tied at 92. DeMarcus Nelson canned a deuce with 12 ticks left, then Diener knotted things at 94 with a pair of singles. Boris Savovic got open behind the arc and with two seconds left put Red Star up by three, 94:97. Diener got fouled with 0.6 seconds to play in an attempt to tie the score with a triple and was sent to the charity stripe for three free throws to tie it, but missed all three giving Red Star their fourth win and a place in the Last 16.
Top Scorers:
B. Sardegna Sassari: Travis Diener 21; Drake Diener 16; Michal Ignerski 14; Bootsy Thornton 11; Tony Easley 11.
Crvena Zvezda Diva: DeMarcus Nelson 20; Igor Rakocevic 16; Boris Savovic 15; Mike Scott 12; Elton Brown 11.

Cajasol Seville – Orleans Loiret, 84:78
Cajasol Seville improved to 2-2 and took over the second spot on Group H with an 84:78 home win over Orlean Loiret, who drops to 1-3 on the season. The hosts jumped out to a five-point advantage in the first, but Orleans controlled the second and grabbed the lead at the half, 33:35. Seville grabbed the lead back in the third, outscoring their hosts 26:20, to head into the final frame up 59:55. Orleans cut the margin to one, 76:75 deep in the last quarter, but consecutive doubles in the paint put the game away for the hosts. Brian Asbury connected on 27 points with a PIR of 34 in the win for Cajasol.
Top Scorers:
Cajasol Seville: Brian Asbury 27 (34 PIR); Joan Sastre 11; Luka Bogdanovic 11; Roberto Dozier 10.
Orleans Loiret: Caleb Green 21; Jahmar Young 18; Brian Greene 12; Mael Lebrun 10; Fernando Raposo 10.

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