Eurocup Eighthfinals Leg 1 recap
After the tight action and exciting developments through two group stages, the Eurocup Eighthfinals are under way, with 16 teams vying over two legs to reach the quarter-finals. Only eight will make it, but leg 1 of the contest pointed us nearer to the teams who will comprise the last eight line up. Of course, the Eurocup showed its quality once again as many of the ties are still very much up for grabs, but there were some runaway wins on Tuesday and Wednesday too.
Not least in Valencia, where defending champs Valencia Basket crushed Bayern Munich in arguably the shock of the week. Elsewhere Banvit Bandirma also put a foot in the next round with a big win over Brose Baskets Bamberg, while Herbalife Gran Canaria looked good away from home. The other games proved closer, especially leg 1 of the Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius vs. Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir, which ended in a draw.
Elsewhere, Paris-Levallois defeated PGE Turow Zgorzelec and Khimky Moscow Region downed Zenit St. Petersburg to open the round on Tuesday. Both were close encounters, as was the win Unics Kazan picked up over FoxTown Cantu, which is where we will start.
FoxTown Cantu vs. Unics Kazan, 64-70
Unics Kazan edged its game against FoxTown Cantu, but the Russian club got the job done in Italy and with home advantage next week will be confident of progression. Unics took the lead early on, but Cantu managed to close the gap at half time and even took the lead in the third act. However, a 1-14 run through the third and fourth quarters helped the visitors to ease away in the final minutes. Sergey Bykov and Keith Langford grabbed 14 points each in the win, while D’or Fischer doubled up with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Cedevita Zagreb vs. Herbalife Gran Canaria, 76-84
One of the most interesting ties of the round began in Croatia as Cedevita hosted Gran Canaria. However, the Spanish team looked good in a comfortable road win and will be confident of closing the deal next week with home court advantage. A 25-19 winning margin in the first quarter for the Zagreb club looked to be setting up the win, but Herbalife Gran Canaria responded instantly and won the remaining stanzas, including a 16-22 run in the fourth that made victory a stroll down the straight.
Banvit Bandirma vs. Virtus ACEA Roma, 71-55
Banvit Bandirma looked good on its own hardwood as it downed Virtus Rome with relative ease. The Turkish club will think it has enough in the bag to see out the tie in the Italian capital next week, but in the eternal city Virtus ACEA will still have a chance. The game was actually tight through 30 minutes, with the scoreboard reading 52-51 in favour of the hosts. Roma was still in the contest, but collapsed in the final period as Banvit posted 19-4 winning ten minutes to secure the win and put daylight on the score heading to next week.
Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius vs. Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir, 81-81
A winner could not be decided between Lithuanian powerhouse Lietuvos Rytas and Turkish outfit Karsiyaka. The teams locked 81 apiece in the Lithuanian capital city, but the visitors will be the happier of the two clubs as they head back to Turkey all square and are surely favourites now. The hosts from Vilnius were heading for the win until Kenny Gabriel dunked for Izmir to tie the contest at the final buzzer. D.J. Strawberry led the scoring for the away team with 20 points, while Martynas Gecevicius netted 19 points for Lietuvos Rytas.
Brose Baskets Bamberg vs. Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, 78-80
As one of the favourites for this season’s competition, Lokomotiv Kuban would have wanted a bigger win in its Eurocup EighthFinals opener against Brose Baskets Bamberg. However, Brose Baksets has proved over recent years that the club is no pushover, and so it proved again. Regardless, Russian club Lokomotiv managed to come away with a win, but it is definitely game on in Krasnodar next week.
Valencia Basket vs. Bayern Munich, 80-58
A game of champions brought the tie of the round as current Eurocup champions Valencia welcomed Bayern Munich to Spain. Both clubs have gone from the absurd to the sublime in continental Basketball this season, and both dropped out of the Euroleague after the regular season. Bayern sauntered through the last round of the Eurocup though while Valencia stumbled, the German club is also going well domestically.
However, the Munich contingent came up against an inspired Valencia on Wednesday and barring a sensational turnaround in Bavaria next week, the tie looks dusted. After a tied 16-16 opening frame, Valencia controlled and ultimately won the game in the middle quarters, winning the second 21-17 and the third 24-11. That was enough for the hosts to win the game at a canter and look good heading into next week’s crunch decider.
Bojan Dubljevic led the winners with 18 points, while Pau Ribas added 16 points.
Only one player managed double digits for Bayern, that honour going to Vasilije Micic with 19 points.