7Days EuroCup Top 16 Underway

The 7Days EuroCup Top 16 got underway on January 2nd with five games. There are currently four groups of four teams each with the top two teams from each group will advance into the quarterfinals.

Group E

Lietuvos Rytas drew first blood in Group E with a 80-74 win at home over BC Partizan MTS Beograd. Dominique Sutton exploded for a game-high 21 points to carry Rytas to victory. He made 8-of-12 shots from the field which included a couple of 3-pointers.

Group F

French club ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne survived a tough defensive grindfest against a formidable opponent in Lokomotiv Kuban, 65-67. This was an important win on the road for ASVEL as it is their first one of the regular season. Alpha Kaba and David Lighty led the charge for ASVEL with Kaba busting out a double-double performance with 16 points and 13 boards to his name.

Group G

Group G had two exciting games for fans. The first was Crvena Zvezda prevailing at home over Limoges CSP Elits 83-71 and the second was Valencia Basket defeating Unicaja Malaga 85-74.

Red Star used their impressive team defense and well-rounded team effort on offense to pull this one out. They overcame a 20-point game from Limoges’ Dwight Hardy by having five of their players score in double figures but no one scoring more than 13 points. They’ve embodied teamwork and hard work throughout the season and so far it’s managed to pay off. So far, so good for one of Serbia’s most popular teams in international competition.

Group H

In a clash between two Russian neighbors, Unics Kazan beat out Zenit St. Petersburg with the narrowest of margins, 68-67. It was an amazing feat considering Zenit’s Jalen Reynolds took command of the paint with 17 points and 17 rebounds. Still, Unics came through when it counted and considering this is just a six-game round robin, every win is crucial for that quarter-finals berth.

Lastly, we have MoraBanc Andorra taking a road win over Cedevita Zagreb, 81-87. Andrew Albicy dropped a monster game to push his team to victory with 22 points and eight assists.

There are two games left in this round. ALBA Berlin will face off against AS Monaco and Ratiopharm Ulm will play against Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt in an all-German tilt.