Nymburk wins seventh straight Czech Cup

CEZ Basketball Nymburk got 23 points from Radoslava Rancik as they won their seventh straight Czech Republic Cup and ninth overall with an 87:83 win over Bk JIP Pardubice on Friday. The semi-finals were determined in Italy, Serbia and Spain, while the finals were set in the Turkish Cup between Fenerbahce and Galatasary Medical Park.

Czech Republic Cup – “Final 8″:
Finals:
CEZ Basketball Nymburk – BK JIP Pardubice, 87:83
Nymburk jumped out to an early 30:18 advantage at the end of the first frame making Pardubice play from behind for the rest of the contest. In the second frame Pardubice started the process of whittling the margin down by outscoring Nymburk 24:27 to head into the intermission, 54:45. Pardubice cut the gap down by another four in the third quarter to head into the final frame with the score, 69:63. Nymburk was able to hold on in the fourth as Pardubice knotted the score at 83, but Nymburk knocked down a pair of doubles and Rancik hit a jumper to earn their seventh consecutive Czech Republic Cup and ninth overall.

Rancik’s 23 was game-high for Nymburk, Tweety Carter and Tomas Pomikalek added 16 each. Corey Muirhead tallied 17 for Pardubice and Samuel Faifr added 16.

England BBL Trophy:
Quarterfinals:
Surrey Heat – Leicester Riders, 66:82
Sheffield Sharks – Glasgow Rocks, 84:81

Quarterfinals (Fri., Feb. 8):
Newcastle Eagles – Worcester Wolves, 88:94
The Worcester Wolves ensured that a new champion will be crowned in the English BBL Trophy competition with an 88:94 victory over the defending champions Newcastle Eagles on Friday. The win puts the Wolves in the Semi-Finals with the Leicester Riders and the Sheffield Sharks, with the only spot remaining to be determined on Saturday when the Worthing Thunder square off against the Cheshire Jets.

The Eagles and the Wolves battled to a 20:20 tie in the first quarter, until Stanley Ocitti dropped in a triple right before the buzzer to put Worcester up 20:23 at the end of the first 10. In the second frame Newcastle hit the first five, but was countered with seven unanswered by the Wolves. They exchanged baskets and the lead over the rest of the period with the Eagles holding a one-point advantage, 43:42, as the teams went to the dressing rooms for the break. In the third Newcastle built a seven-point lead with a 10:2 run to get up 55:48 with just under four minutes to play in the quarter. The Wolves were able to fight back knot the score at 61 as time was running out on the frame. In the final 10 the Wolves took control and got up by six early on. Newcastle countered quickly though and knotted the score at 71 with six minutes to play. Worcester ran off six unanswered to get up 71:78, only to have the Eagles close the gap to one. Over the last two minutes the Wolves extended their lead back to six in large part by dropping in six for six singles in the last 22 seconds.

Alex Owumi was game-high for the Wolves with 34 points and 9 rebounds. Arturas Masiulis added 19 and Ocitti contributed 13.

Charles Smith paced the Eagles with 23, Kareem Maddox added 21 points and 14 rebounds, Darius Defoe dropped in 16.

Quarterfinals (Sat., Feb. 9):
Worthing Thunder – Cheshire Jets

Italian Cup – “BEKO Final Eight”:
Quarterfinals (Thurs., Feb. 7):
Mapooro Cantu – Acea Roma, 85:89
Cimberio Varese – EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, 92:74

Quarterfinals (Fri., Feb. 8):
Banco Di Sardegna Sassari – Enel Brindisi, 98:96
Sassari needed an extra frame and 61 points from Drake Diener and Marvis Thornton to advantage to the Italian Cup semi-finals with a 98:96 win over Enel Brindisi. Diener dropped in 11 of Sassari’s 22 in the first quarter, but Brindisi got 8 each from Antywane Robinson and Jonathan Gibson to take a two-point advantage, 22:24. Sassari cut the gap to one and Diener picked up 8 more to give him 19 points in the first half. The clubs went into the break with Enel up 45:44. Thornton put on a shooting clinic in the third for those in attendance, finding the cords on five triples and a deuce to account for 17 of Sassari’s 28 points in the third. The clubs remained a single point apart after they both tallied up 28 to head into the final 10 with the score at 72:73. Sassari hit the first five of the fourth quarter to get hold a four-point margin. Brindisi went on a 2:9 run to regain the lead, 84:87. Diener hit a jumper and Tony Easley split a pair of singles to tie the score at 87, which is where they where when time ran out on the fourth. Late in the extra frame a Diener triple turned out to be the shot that put the game out of reach for Sassari sending them to the semi-finals.

Montepaschi Siena – Trenkwalder Reggio Emilia, 82:73
On the back of playmaker Bobby Brown’s 22 points, Montepaschi Siena earned a spot in the Italian Cup Final Four with an 82:73 win over Trenkwalder. Brown was assisted by 17 points each from Matt Janning and David Moss. Trenkwalder got 20 points from Greg Brunner, 13 from Michele Antonutti and 12 each from Mladen Jeremic and Andrea Cinciarini.

The two clubs played to a 23:23 tie after the first 10, and Emilia took a two-point lead into the intermission, 37:39. Siena took control in the second half taking a five-point advantage into the final frame and then adding four more to that in the fourth to earn a spot in the semis.

Semi-Finals (Sat., Feb. 9):
Cimberio Varese – Acea Roma
Montepaschi Siena – Banco Di Sardegna Sassari

Serbian Cup – “Kup Radivoja Koraca”:
Quarterfinals (Thurs., Feb. 7):
Mega Vizura – Vrsac, 82:79
Partizan mt:s Belgrade – Sloboda, 73:50

Quarterfinals (Fri., Feb. 8):
Radnicki – Metalac, 95:60
Radnicki earned their place in the Serbian Cup semi-final with a 95:60 rout of Metalac on Friday. Radnicki had five players in double figures in the contest, led by Danilo Mijatovic’s 16 off the bench. Terrico White added 13, and the trio of Milos Dimic, Stefan Sinovec and Nenad Miljenovic each contributed 10. Stefan Balmazovic paced Metalac with 15 points, and Dragan Druscic added 11.

Crvena Zvezda Telekom – Vojvodina, 97:72
Red Star Belgrade advanced to the semi-finals with a 25-point victory over Vojvodina. Igor Rakocevic and De Marcus Nelson both dropped in 19 for the Reds, Boris Savovic added 15 and Marko Simonovic and Predrag Samardziski contributed 12 each. Radovan Markovic was game-high with 22 points for Vojvodina. Stefan Stojacic added 13, and Radomir Marojevic and Dragan Zekovic each dropped in 12.

Semi-Finals (Sat., Feb. 9):
Maga Vizura – Partizan
Radnicki – Crvena Zvezda Telekom

Spanish Cup – “Copa del Rey”:
Quarterfinals (Thurs., Feb. 7):
Real Madrid – FC Barcelona Regal, 108:111 2OT
Caja Laboral – CAI Zaragoza, 88:64

Quarterfinals (Fri., Feb. 8):
Valencia Basket – Asefa Estudiantes, 77:59
Valencia advanced to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey with an 18-point win over Asefa Estudiantes. Vitor Faverani was game-high for Valencia with 23 and Rafa Martinez added 17 to help the club move through to the semis. Valencia outscored Asefa in all four quarters, building a 37:25 lead by halftime. They added three more to the margin in each of the third and fourth quarters on their way to a matchup with Herbalife in the semi-finals. Jayson Granger was the top scorer for Asefa with 16 points.

Herbalife Gran Canarias – Uxue Bilbao Basket, 74:62
Herbalife Gran Canarias grabbed a spot in the semi-finals with a 74:62 win over Uxue Bilbao Basket. En route to the win they outscored Bilbao in all four quarters. Xavi Rey was game-high for Herbalife with 22 points, Jon Scheyer added 12 and Spencer Nelson contributed 11 points and 5 assists. Alex Mumbru paced Bilbao with 15 points. Konstantinos Vasileladis added 13 and Lamont Hamilton dropped in 12.

Semi-Finals (Sat., Feb. 9):
FC Barcelona Regal – Caja Laboral
Valencia Basket – Herbalife Gran Canarias

Turkish Cup – “Spor Toto Turkiye Kupasi”:
Semi-Finals (Feb. 8 – Eskişehir, Anadolu Univ.):
Besiktas JK Istanbul vs. Fenerbahce Ulker, 66:75
Fenerbahce Ulker got 15 points and 9 rebounds from David Andersen and 12 points and 5 rebounds from Bo McCalebb on their way to a 66:75 win over Besiktas to move on to the finals of the Turkish Cup against Galatasaray Medical Park and prevent Besiktas from repeating as Cup champions. Ulker used an overpowering second quarter where they outscored Besiktas 9:25 to head into the dressing rooms at the half up 25:39. Besiktas cut the lead by seven in the third outscoring Fenerbahce 20:13 to head into the final 10 with the score at 45:52. Ulker added two points to the margin with a final quarter score of 21:23 to earn the spot in the finals. Besiktas got 13 points from both Gasper Vidmar and Serhat Cetin and 11 from Curtis Jerrells.

Banvit BK Bandirma vs. Galatasaray Medical Park, 68:81OT
Galatasaray Medical Park advanced to the Turkish Cup Finals with a 68:81 overtime win over Banvit BK Bandirma on Friday. Jamont Gordon dropped in 29 points to lead the way for Galatasaray, Carlos Arroyo added 14 points and 7 rebounds, and Frukan Aldemir contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds to the win. Banvit opened the game with a three-point lead after the first frame, but Galatasaray countered in the second by holding Banvit to 11 points in the second while tallying up 20 to close out the half up 31:37. Banvit fell further behind in the third quarter as Galatasaray outscored then 13:20 to finish the 30th minute 44:57. Galatasaray fought off a hard charging Banvit club until there were two minutes to play when Banvit pulled even at 61. Each team was only able to tally two additional points in the final two minutes, sending the contest into an extra frame with the score reading 63-all. In the additional five, Galatasaray was able to find their range again and dropped in 18, to Banvit’s 5, giving Galatasaray a place in the Cup finals for the first time since 1995 and preventing Banvit from returning to the finals.

Finals (Feb. 10 – Eskişehir, Anadolu Univ.)
Fenerbahce Ulker – Galatasaray Medical Park