By Niki Bakouli
Four teams had the chance to make their lives easier, by… killing their opponents home court advantage at the first games of the quarterfinals series of Eurocup. Only one managed to do make a step closer to the Finals, in that way.
Spartak St. Petersburg traveled back home from Nymburk with 64-68, which means next week they can celebrate qualification, even if they lose by three points! Patrick Beverly was best scorer (19) and Vladimir Dragicevic added 18. The Czech Champs came all way back from -14, but Russians held through the end.
In every other series, home court advantage was protected in best way possible. BC Khimki made all the difference at last quarter and they beat Lokomotiv Kuban 81-72 (the score was 71-71, 5.20 to the end), with Tomas Kelati offering 20 points with 6/7 threes!
Lietuvos Rytas had Jonas Valanciunas keeping BC Donetsk’s players away from the paint and at the same time, he scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to a 76-65 victory. Lithuanians never trailed, with Donetsk having as their best moment 63-59, early in the fourth quarter.
Last but not least, Buducnost Voli topped Valecia Basket 75-71, thanks to a 13-0 run at the end. When youngster Nikola Ivanovic scored from downtown the deficit of 10 in the start of the fourth quarter was as it never happened for Montenegrins!
So, everything seems to be open for the second leg, except of course in the case of Spartak.